I Love Chris Davis

[Flash- bd]

I love Chris Davis. 

 

When he re-signed, I was secretly happy. I read Tony's Take, and all the other exceedingly valid opinions about it being a bad contract; but the heart wants what the heart wants. 

Machado is a better hitter, Trumbo was a better hitter last; but I always perk up when CD comes to the plate. 

A Chris Davis HR is just better than all the rest; nominally it looks the same but there's something special about it. It's like a Mesut Ozil assist, a Chris Paul lay-up, a Juan Dixon mid-range J, or a Michael Vick bomb, with a flick of his left wrist, much like Chris. 

Maybe it's because he had the first, genuine MOO bat season we've seen in a long time. Maybe it's because when we acquired him from Texas I had already owned him on my fantasy team in his rookie year when he initially killed it for a few months, and had a good feeling when we acquired him. 

Or maybe it's because his HRs just look cooler than all the rest. 

Either way, it's time to accept it: good contract or not, good player or not, I love Chris Davis. 

 

 

(mods, feel free to move this extremely random confession/outpouring of emotion to another forum)

[Can_of_corn]

I figured I'd dig up a positive Davis thread for this piece.

No idea if his charitable acts taking called strike threes from opposing pitchers was a factor.

[interloper]

I feel you, OP. Things are right when Davis hits dingers. It's a shame he's not been as good as those couple of years, but I still have much love for the guy.

[Moshagge3]

Chris's home run yesterday went 367 feet and is a hit, much less a HR, like 25% of the time based on launch angle and velocity. It was about as unpretty as a home run gets. I get what you are saying about how you always have a glimmer of hope with Chris Davis because the pitcher can make a good pitch and miss the fat part of the bat and Davis can still take him deep purely on brute strength. But the home runs that I want to watch over and over again are the majestic shots that Manny and Schoop and Jones and Mancini and Trumbo are capable of hitting. Davis used to be able to hit majestic HRs onto Eutaw Street but a look at his spray chart from 2017 shows that he has only seven home runs all year pulled to the right third of the field. I think he might have just had one at Fenway. But honestly, I don't distinctly recall any of them.

[spiritof66]

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

I figured I'd dig up a positive Davis thread for this piece.

No idea if his charitable acts taking called strike threes from opposing pitchers was a factor.

Or not trying to hit ground balls to the left side when the full shift is on.

[Frobby]

25 minutes ago, spiritof66 said:

Or not trying to hit ground balls to the left side when the full shift is on.

You know, this frustrates me, but I also believe that (1) it isn't as easy as it looks considering the quality of pitching that major league hitters face, and (2) Davis is hardly alone among hitters who face extreme shifts and rarely hit the ball where the holes are.    

[Ruzious]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

You know, this frustrates me, but I also believe that (1) it isn't as easy as it looks considering the quality of pitching that major league hitters face, and (2) Davis is hardly alone among hitters who face extreme shifts and rarely hit the ball where the holes are.    

My Dad (who grew up in the Bronx - a 10 minute walk from Yankee stadium) still considers Ted Williams a selfish player, because back in his day, teams used a special shift just for Ted, and he refused to try to hit the other way.    

[Frobby]

6 minutes ago, Ruzious said:

My Dad (who grew up in the Bronx - a 10 minute walk from Yankee stadium) still considers Ted Williams a selfish player, because back in his day, teams used a special shift just for Ted, and he refused to try to hit the other way.    

And Ted was probably a lot more capable of doing it than Chris Davis.  

[Il BuonO]

Not probably, he was. "Selfish" doesn't take into account Williams refusal to change his approach which included hitting the ball where it was pitched. He regularly beat the shift without changing his approach. He took advice on beating the shift from Paul Waner (whom he admired greatly) to later adapt his thinking.

If Davis had Williams' ability to know pitchers and how they pitched him he'd probably be worth the money he's being paid. He isn't.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/just-because-the-ted-williams-shift/amp/

[Nevermore]

On 5/18/2017 at 2:10 PM, Flash- bd said:

I love Chris Davis. 

 

When he re-signed, I was secretly happy. I read Tony's Take, and all the other exceedingly valid opinions about it being a bad contract; but the heart wants what the heart wants. 

Machado is a better hitter, Trumbo was a better hitter last; but I always perk up when CD comes to the plate. 

A Chris Davis HR is just better than all the rest; nominally it looks the same but there's something special about it. It's like a Mesut Ozil assist, a Chris Paul lay-up, a Juan Dixon mid-range J, or a Michael Vick bomb, with a flick of his left wrist, much like Chris. 

Maybe it's because he had the first, genuine MOO bat season we've seen in a long time. Maybe it's because when we acquired him from Texas I had already owned him on my fantasy team in his rookie year when he initially killed it for a few months, and had a good feeling when we acquired him. 

Or maybe it's because his HRs just look cooler than all the rest. 

Either way, it's time to accept it: good contract or not, good player or not, I love Chris Davis. 

 

 

(mods, feel free to move this extremely random confession/outpouring of emotion to another forum)

I  like him too. Though he frustrates me when he becomes Whiff Davis. But he doesn't have to be perfect. 

[tntoriole]

1 hour ago, Il BuonO said:

Not probably, he was. "Selfish" doesn't take into account Williams refusal to change his approach which included hitting the ball where it was pitched. He regularly beat the shift without changing his approach. He took advice on beating the shift from Paul Waner (whom he admired greatly) to later adapt his thinking.

If Davis had Williams' ability to know pitchers and how they pitched him he'd probably be worth the money he's being paid. He isn't.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/just-because-the-ted-williams-shift/amp/

Listen to the Maestro talk about hitting from this classic interview with Bob Costas in 1993.   He talks about his approach against the shift which for him basically had 6 players on the first base side of second, leaving only the LF who played in.  He says that he simply moved off the plate after a tip from Paul Waner.  His averages against the shift were .330 career compared to .350   nonshift, not much of a difference.

 

The whole interview is great, including where he includes Frank Robinson along with Dimaggio, Musial, Mays, Mantle, Aaron as best he ever saw.  But the shift part is at 13:20

https://youtu.be/DeiNQqMyQ_k

[spiritof66]

3 hours ago, Frobby said:

You know, this frustrates me, but I also believe that (1) it isn't as easy as it looks considering the quality of pitching that major league hitters face, and (2) Davis is hardly alone among hitters who face extreme shifts and rarely hit the ball where the holes are.    

I have read and heard lots of times that it's difficult for sluggers to take advantage of the shift, and that part of the reason they don't try to do is that adjusting their swing may foul up the home-run swings they're paid for. I find that hard to believe , but there must be something to it. One of the reasons I'm dubious is that I don't recall hearing that guys have tried to learn to do this and have been unable to do so. Rather, it's that guys won't try it (in a game) because of the difficulty and the problems associated with changing swings).

What I don't understand is why a LHed hitter like Davis, batting with third base uncovered, can't learn to bunt toward third or, swinging late, stick the bat out and hit a dribbler (or maybe something harder if the pitch comes in really fast) in that direction that will be good for at least a single. That can't be that hard to do and shouldn't mess up anyone' s swing. 

[Tx Oriole]

5 hours ago, Moshagge3 said:

Chris's home run yesterday went 367 feet and is a hit, much less a HR, like 25% of the time based on launch angle and velocity. It was about as unpretty as a home run gets. I get what you are saying about how you always have a glimmer of hope with Chris Davis because the pitcher can make a good pitch and miss the fat part of the bat and Davis can still take him deep purely on brute strength. But the home runs that I want to watch over and over again are the majestic shots that Manny and Schoop and Jones and Mancini and Trumbo are capable of hitting. Davis used to be able to hit majestic HRs onto Eutaw Street but a look at his spray chart from 2017 shows that he has only seven home runs all year pulled to the right third of the field. I think he might have just had one at Fenway. But honestly, I don't distinctly recall any of them.

A homerun is a homerun no matter how far it goes over the fence. 

[Moshagge3]

43 minutes ago, Tx Oriole said:

A homerun is a homerun no matter how far it goes over the fence. 

Tell that to the OP who said:

A Chris Davis HR is just better than all the rest; nominally it looks the same but there's something special about it.

[tntoriole]

1 hour ago, spiritof66 said:

I have read and heard lots of times that it's difficult for sluggers to take advantage of the shift, and that part of the reason they don't try to do is that adjusting their swing may foul up the home-run swings they're paid for. I find that hard to believe , but there must be something to it. One of the reasons I'm dubious is that I don't recall hearing that guys have tried to learn to do this and have been unable to do so. Rather, it's that guys won't try it (in a game) because of the difficulty and the problems associated with changing swings).

What I don't understand is why a LHed hitter like Davis, batting with third base uncovered, can't learn to bunt toward third or, swinging late, stick the bat out and hit a dribbler (or maybe something harder if the pitch comes in really fast) in that direction that will be good for at least a single. That can't be that hard to do and shouldn't mess up anyone' s swing. 

After Lou Boudreau started the Williams shift in June, 1946...Ted did bunt 12 times afterwards that year...all towards third and all were hits.   And he stepped off the plate a bit to give his natural swing an alignment towards left.  

Of course, he was also the greatest hitter ever, so there is that.