Chris Davis to leadoff?

[DrungoHazewood]

13 hours ago, Oriol3s said:

Agreed. No harm in trying, but Davis is not getting the job done at leadoff.  Time for a change.

Yes, if something doesn't get the expected results in four to eight plate appearances then immediately abandon the idea and apologize for your wild-eyed lunacy.

That's what Babe Ruth did after two games of trying this totally mad "power hitting" experiment.  That's why we know him as a briefly successful pitcher who did well in the 1916 and 1918 World Series, then hurt his arm and retired in 1922.

[pastorfan]

11 hours ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

Weird thing is Davis only has one strikeout.  He's putting the ball into play, but can't even come close to making good contact.  

Yeah, he seems to be "flicking" the ball when he goes the other way. Seems to be little bat speed.

[foxfield]

The results are not good from Davis, but 162 games is a long season.  Can we maybe give Buck a few series before we harass this call?  It's not like the entire team is bashing the ball and Davis is not.

[gtman55]

Call me weird but I like to start the game off with a contact hitter and a guy with speed. A guy who can maybe bunt or steal if he gets on base. Who rarely strikes out. I know there's no rule as to what kind of batter should lead off but Davis leading off makes no sense. 

[Il BuonO]

17 minutes ago, gtman55 said:

Call me weird but I like to start the game off with a contact hitter and a guy with speed. A guy who can maybe bunt or steal if he gets on base. Who rarely strikes out. I know there's no rule as to what kind of batter should lead off but Davis leading off makes no sense. 

You are weird.

[Il BuonO]

39 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Yes, if something doesn't get the expected results in four to eight plate appearances then immediately abandon the idea and apologize for your wild-eyed lunacy.

That's what Babe Ruth did after two games of trying this totally mad "power hitting" experiment.  That's why we know him as a briefly successful pitcher who did well in the 1916 and 1918 World Series, then hurt his arm and retired in 1922.

I doubt many people know Ruth this way.

[Frobby]

18 minutes ago, gtman55 said:

Call me weird but I like to start the game off with a contact hitter and a guy with speed. A guy who can maybe bunt or steal if he gets on base. Who rarely strikes out. I know there's no rule as to what kind of batter should lead off but Davis leading off makes no sense. 

The theory is that Davis historically has had a good on base percentage (.327 career), and that’s an important trait for a leadoff man.   Having said that, Davis’ OBP wasn’t good last year (.309), and he’s certainly not off to a roaring start (.143).   I think Buck did it to try to jump start Davis this year and show some confidence in him.  So far, so bad.

[Corolla35]

15 hours ago, mdbdotcom said:

He should swap places with Sisco. Davis to 9th, Sisco to leadoff.

I wouldn't mind seeing Sisco try it.  Personally I'd like to see Anthony Santander take a shot at leadoff. 

[Finisher]

"Orioles manager Buck Showalter is considering moving Chris Davis out of the leadoff spot in the lineup.

"I'm not married to it, but we certainly are looking for something to try and get him going a little bit early in the season," Showalter said to reporters. Davis has gotten off to a slow start with no hits in the first three games, but he's only struck out once. He's one of the few players in the Baltimore offense who works counts and draws walks, so there is no perfect answer for who hits at the top. We'll see how long this experiment lasts."

[Ripken]

I think he'll finish this year worse than last.  He looks awful.  His swing path is bad enough but the mental part is probably getting worse.  Is he supposed to be more aggressive now to limit the Ks or is he supposed to take more walks as the leadoff guy?  Buck said he worked on bunting against the shift.  Where is that?  People think he should go to left field more.  The fans are on him already, which can't be helping.  We'd be better off with so many others taking his ABs; Santander, Cisco, Rasmus, Valencia, Hays, etc.  And this gets worse when Trumbo comes back.

[DrungoHazewood]

49 minutes ago, Il BuonO said:

I doubt many people know Ruth this way.

Yea, because it didn't happen because Ruth told all the people who know power hitting would just lead to a lot of flyouts that they were stupid and he should keep trying to innovate.  Literally an unwritten rule of 1915 was "power hitting is stupid, you'll just fly out a lot."  There were newspaper articles in late 1919 about how pitchers will be more careful around Ruth in 1920 and he'll never get anywhere close to 29 homers again.

[Horsepower]

Nothing personal against Davis but I am not sure I can take another season of him.  0-12 so far but at least only one strikeout.  He still looks totally baffled at the plate and its just plain nonsense that he is leading off.  He needs to be on the bench or in the 9 hole.  Even his defense has been bad so far.   

 

BENCH HIM

[interloper]

I don't think Davis looks so much baffled as he does just unable to square balls up and hit them hard. If he has another bad season, they need to redo his entire batting mechanics. I don't know why they haven't done that yet. 

[CharmCityLights]

2 hours ago, Corolla35 said:

I wouldn't mind seeing Sisco try it.  Personally I'd like to see Anthony Santander take a shot at leadoff. 

I think this will happen.

[Il BuonO]

2 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Yea, because it didn't happen because Ruth told all the people who know power hitting would just lead to a lot of flyouts that they were stupid and he should keep trying to innovate.  Literally an unwritten rule of 1915 was "power hitting is stupid, you'll just fly out a lot."  There were newspaper articles in late 1919 about how pitchers will be more careful around Ruth in 1920 and he'll never get anywhere close to 29 homers again.

I’m sure you’re correct. About this. But the end of the post I quoted was about how people knew him as a pitcher, one who won the 1916 & 1918 WS. 

Most people don’t remember Ruth as a successful pitcher.