Chris Davis 2019 and beyond

[theocean]

4 hours ago, ShaneDawg85 said:

I am so utterly sick of this idea and every time it comes up, as a joke or otherwise, it makes my eyes explode.  The fact that almost 7 years later people still bring up that one time where Chris Davis pitched against the Red Sox, the same game where he went what 0-8 with two games worth of strikeouts, and happened to have success against a team that finished in dead last place just that one time and think he could somehow do it now is lazy, asinine, and honestly as close to impossible as you can get.  We're all desperate to get rid of Chris Davis, even people that once liked him, or still like him.  But this has absolutely no chance of ever happening, and people need to stop hanging on to tiny moments that serve nothing than nostalgia pandering.  

Thank you! He struggled to even hit 90 on the gun and that was SEVEN years ago. And the O's would have lost that game in the 16th if Marlon Byrd wasn't the slowest guy in the world. 

[ORIOLE33]

5 hours ago, ShaneDawg85 said:

I am so utterly sick of this idea and every time it comes up, as a joke or otherwise, it makes my eyes explode.  The fact that almost 7 years later people still bring up that one time where Chris Davis pitched against the Red Sox, the same game where he went what 0-8 with two games worth of strikeouts, and happened to have success against a team that finished in dead last place just that one time and think he could somehow do it now is lazy, asinine, and honestly as close to impossible as you can get.  We're all desperate to get rid of Chris Davis, even people that once liked him, or still like him.  But this has absolutely no chance of ever happening, and people need to stop hanging on to tiny moments that serve nothing than nostalgia pandering.  

Exactly.

[DrungoHazewood]

22 hours ago, Frobby said:

Davis was never a professional quality pitcher.     It’s a complete non-starter.   

Also, remember his two innings in Boston.  It's was a fraction of a second from becoming one inning, because Adam Jones had to go fish a lined shot by Mike Aviles off the wall, fire a throw to JJ, who then fed a perfect relay to Wieters to tag out Marlon Byrd by an eyelash.  That heroic pitching performance involved the defense doing that and turning a DP in the 17th to end it.

I'd bet Davis could be a passable reliever in an indy league, where your average pitcher throws 85 and was released from his A-ball team in 2015.  I'd pay to go see him pitch for the Blue Crabs.

[DrungoHazewood]

Whatever happened to Dariel Alvarez?  He was going to transition to pitcher, threw an inning or two in the GCL last year.  But now I see he's hitting very well in the Mexican Winter League and not pitching.

Quick quiz... name all the Orioles who transitioned from position player to pitcher.  Nerio Rodriguez.  Mychal Givens.  Hmm... I think I'm out.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

3 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Also, I'd pay to go see him pitch for the Blue Crabs.

I would too because it would mean his days as an Oriole are over. 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

5 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Whatever happened to Dariel Alvarez?  He was going to transition to pitcher, threw an inning or two in the GCL last year.  But now I see he's hitting very well in the Mexican Winter League and not pitching.

Quick quiz... name all the Orioles who transitioned from position player to pitcher.  Nerio Rodriguez.  Mychal Givens.  Hmm... I think I'm out.

I can only think of Adam Loewen who went the reverse route from pitcher to position player.

[Frobby]

2 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

I can only think of Adam Loewen who went the reverse route from pitcher to position player.

And then back.    Kind of a cool achievement.

I guess Nick Markakis doesn’t count since he never pitched professionally, though a lot of teams supposedly would have preferred to draft him as a pitcher.  

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

1 minute ago, Frobby said:

And then back.    Kind of a cool achievement.

I guess Nick Markakis doesn’t count since he never pitched professionally, though a lot of teams supposedly would have preferred to draft him as a pitcher.  

That reminds me a lot of MLB teams were scouting Cal Ripken as a pitcher coming out of high school.

[Number5]

9 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Whatever happened to Dariel Alvarez?  He was going to transition to pitcher, threw an inning or two in the GCL last year.  But now I see he's hitting very well in the Mexican Winter League and not pitching.

Quick quiz... name all the Orioles who transitioned from position player to pitcher.  Nerio Rodriguez.  Mychal Givens.  Hmm... I think I'm out.

Dick Hall.

[DrungoHazewood]

10 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

I can only think of Adam Loewen who went the reverse route from pitcher to position player.

In 1894 Kid Gleason pitched 172 innings for the NL Orioles, going 15-5.  In 1895 he played 85 games at second base.  I think he hurt his arm.

He'd actually gone 138-131 as a starter from 1888-95, then played over 1600 games in the field through 1912.  Then managed the White/Black Sox.  There's probably a good book in there somewhere.  

[DrungoHazewood]

2 minutes ago, Frobby said:

And then back.    Kind of a cool achievement.

I guess Nick Markakis doesn’t count since he never pitched professionally, though a lot of teams supposedly would have preferred to draft him as a pitcher.  

He pitched a few innings for the Greek Olympic team in '04.  The rumor when he was drafted is that the Orioles were the only team who wanted him as a position player, but I'm not sure if that was just exaggeration to pick fun at the Thrift/DeMacio/etc regime.

[DrungoHazewood]

4 minutes ago, Number5 said:

Dick Hall.

That is a good pull, although he converted long before becoming an Oriole.

[SurhoffRules]

10 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

I can only think of Adam Loewen who went the reverse route from pitcher to position player.

Loewen has actually done a reverse reverse!

After coming up as pitcher from 2003-2008, he flipped to position player from 09-2015, and then jumped back to the mound!

Since 2014 years he's pitched for Phily & AZ in the bigs and for them & Texas in AAA and AA!

[DrungoHazewood]

5 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

That reminds me a lot of MLB teams were scouting Cal Ripken as a pitcher coming out of high school.

Matt Wieters was Georgia Tech's closer when he wasn't catching.

From his Georgia Tech HOF bio: "...while on the pitching side he’s seventh all time in career saves (16), including seven in 2006. He also had a team-high 9.95 strikeouts per nine innings that season. For his career he pitched to a 3.83 ERA and strikeouts to walks ratio approaching 4:1 (83 strikeouts vs. 24 bases on bslld)."

[Number5]

1 minute ago, DrungoHazewood said:

That is a good pull, although he converted long before becoming an Oriole.

Yep, Pirates IIRC.  I remember as a kid they used to list the Orioles batting averages in the Sunday paper and seemed like Dick Hall, a pitcher, was almost always listed with the highest average.