Chris Davis 2019 and beyond

[atomic]

4 minutes ago, MongoBoy said:

You're talking about a liberal mecca.  No one up there wants a multimillionaire to succeed.

Have you been to Boston?  Ton of rich people there.

[TonySoprano]

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Maybe it was because the intimate gathering of 6,585 (the smallest paying crowd in the stadium's history) consisted only of die-hards, the kind that bleed black and orange and relish the opportunity to watch a midweek April game against the Oakland A's. Maybe it was because the fans realized beating a guy when he's down -- and let's face it, hardly anyone in baseball has ever been more down than Chris Davis -- is just plain mean. Whatever the reason, on the night Baltimore's first baseman broke the record for the longest hitless streak ever by a position player, the fans that witnessed it gave him nothing but love.

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Unfortunately, I feel like a few people who decide to boo, or say whatever they may say, are ruining it for a lot of people. I've been here long enough, I've played for the Orioles long enough to know what kind of fan base we have, and to know that they support their players through good and bad. And that thought has kept me in a good state of mind throughout this whole thing."

These days, the booing isn't what bothers Davis most. Instead, it's the negative attention that detracts from what his young teammates are accomplishing on the field.

"It takes away from so many positive things that we're doing," says Davis, who didn't speak after Monday's record-setter, a 12-4 rout over the A's in which he was the only Orioles starter who failed to reach base. "We won the game and I went 0-for-5, and I knew that the media was going to want to talk about it. For me, that was just such an unprofessional thing to do, to sit there and talk about my own personal circumstances when we had so many things to be excited and encouraged about as a ballclub. I want these guys to enjoy playing in the big leagues. I want them to enjoy playing for the Orioles, playing for the city of Baltimore. I want them to understand that it's a privilege to be able to put on this uniform night in and night out. I want them to do as much as they can to have the best outcome possible, and I don't think it's fair for me to bring all the baggage that I have with me right now and dump it on those guys."

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/26488549/chris-davis-0-53-streak

 

 

[MongoBoy]

4 minutes ago, atomic said:

Have you been to Boston?  Ton of rich people there.

If you're not part of their clique, you're an outsider and need to be destroyed.  Sort of, like, the news business.

[TonySoprano]

Did some digging, and as expected, there are a lot of references to Chris Davis, but pitcher records are a lot harder to find.  Checking the game logs, this may or may not be the longest hitless streak for a pitcher :
Bob Buhl, RHP Milwaukee Braves and Chicago Cubs, from September 1, 1961 - May 8, 1963 had the following line  102 PA, 87 AB, 0 H, 36K.   In 1962 alone, he was 0 for 85 PA, 70 AB.  

Buhl passed away in 2001, and in the obituary published in the NY Times
 

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A hard-throwing right-hander, Buhl was known for his mastery of the Dodgers but also for his futility at the plate. While pitching mostly for the Cubs in 1962, he was 0 for 70, setting a record for most at-bats in a major league season without a hit.

- https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/22/sports/bob-buhl-72-braves-pitcher-who-was-hapless-as-a-hitter.html

If someone can find the record for a pitcher, let us know. 

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The baseball story of Eugenio Vélez, a second baseman and utility guy who played five Major League seasons, for the Giants and the Dodgers, is one of those little tragedies in a sport full of hard luck. In 2011, he had a total of thirty-seven at-bats, mostly as a pinch-hitter, in which he failed to record a single hit. That, combined with an 0–9 stretch at the end of the previous season, gave him the record of most consecutive at-bats without a hit, forty-six, a mark that dated back to 1909. Adding a mean twist to the tale, in the early days of his streak, during the 2010 season, he was hit in the head by a line drive while sitting in the dugout, and spent a night in the hospital. He recovered well enough to go on not hitting. Vélez ended the 2011 season with a batting average of .000 and has never played another game in the majors.

Now Vélez has lost even his notoriety. On Monday night, Chris Davis, the first baseman for the Baltimore Orioles, went 0–5, extending his hitless streak, which began last season, to forty-nine at-bats and counting.

 https://www.newyorker.com/sports/sporting-scene/the-poetry-of-chris-davis-and-the-longest-hitless-streak-in-history

 

[foxfield]

18 hours ago, interloper said:

 

Chris Davis has always been a bit streaky....

 

I hope he busts out too....

 

But what if this is part of his slump and decline?  What if the last 9 balls he has put in play is him firing at 99 94/100%?  What if his best is simply not going to be enough to say hit 6-10 balls out in a month.  Why would that be surprising?

I'm not trying to rain on hope.  But three years, data, comprehensive, says he is done.

 

If Chris Davis snaps his streak soon?  Will we say could he possibly break his own unbreakable record?  I am just curious regarding the stats cited above.  How many of the expected hits that should come from the exit veto and launch angle would have been HR and is there a correlation to missing the expected batting average because none of those balls made it out of the park?

[interloper]

14 minutes ago, foxfield said:

Chris Davis has always been a bit streaky....

 

I hope he busts out too....

 

But what if this is part of his slump and decline?  What if the last 9 balls he has put in play is him firing at 99 94/100%?  What if his best is simply not going to be enough to say hit 6-10 balls out in a month.  Why would that be surprising?

I'm not trying to rain on hope.  But three years, data, comprehensive, says he is done.

 

If Chris Davis snaps his streak soon?  Will we say could he possibly break his own unbreakable record?  I am just curious regarding the stats cited above.  How many of the expected hits that should come from the exit veto and launch angle would have been HR and is there a correlation to missing the expected batting average because none of those balls made it out of the park?

I mean make no mistake, it's not just a bad streak. We all see the elephant in the room - he's basically done. But there's some indication that he could - at the very least - find a few hits pretty soon. He's not striking out as much recently and making some hard contact. 

The tough part is - once he breaks the hitless streak, then what? By all accounts he will most likely start another pretty long one. But all you can do is hope he figures something out. 

[mdbdotcom]

He's never going to be the hitter he was. If he accepts that and makes the necessary changes to become the best hitter he can be right now, maybe he can bring a little value to the team. He'll never hit well enough to justify the contract, but that's no longer the issue. Can he be the best 1B on the team and earn his playing time?

[Frobby]

39 minutes ago, interloper said:

The tough part is - once he breaks the hitless streak, then what? By all accounts he will most likely start another pretty long one. But all you can do is hope he figures something out. 

This got me to thinking, let’s say a guy’s “true talent” is that he’s a .150 hitter.    What are the odds that he’d go 0 for 50?     The answer is .03%.    One out of 3,333.   So that suggests that Davis may not be capable of hitting even .150.    

[atomic]

4 minutes ago, Frobby said:

This got me to thinking, let’s say a guy’s “true talent” is that he’s a .150 hitter.    What are the odds that he’d go 0 for 50?     The answer is .03%.    One out of 3,333.   So that suggests that Davis may not be capable of hitting even .150.    

It wouldn't be hard for him to get to .150.  If he went 10 for his next 34  at bats he would be hitting .151.   It is really difficult to hit less than .150.  

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

7 minutes ago, Frobby said:

This got me to thinking, let’s say a guy’s “true talent” is that he’s a .150 hitter.    What are the odds that he’d go 0 for 50?     The answer is .03%.    One out of 3,333.   So that suggests that Davis may not be capable of hitting even .150.    

Read yesterday that Davis based on hit probability should have a batting average of .119 instead of .000, so he might be a .119 hitter at this point. 

[Can_of_corn]

8 minutes ago, Frobby said:

This got me to thinking, let’s say a guy’s “true talent” is that he’s a .150 hitter.    What are the odds that he’d go 0 for 50?     The answer is .03%.    One out of 3,333.   So that suggests that Davis may not be capable of hitting even .150.    

Didn't he have something like an 0-25 streak going when he got his last hit?

[spleen1015]

He never should have been able to go 0-53. After 2017 he shouldn't have been on a ML roster. After last season, he most definitely shouldn't be playing this year. The O's should have worked something out with him over the off season so that he didn't come back this year.

At this point, I'm interested to see how it all goes. It is a hitless streak, but it has the same level of interest that a hitting streak would have to me just because its so improbable. History no matter what.

[interloper]

45 minutes ago, Frobby said:

This got me to thinking, let’s say a guy’s “true talent” is that he’s a .150 hitter.    What are the odds that he’d go 0 for 50?     The answer is .03%.    One out of 3,333.   So that suggests that Davis may not be capable of hitting even .150.    

Wow. That's some sad math right there.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

 

[foxfield]

1 hour ago, interloper said:

I mean make no mistake, it's not just a bad streak. We all see the elephant in the room - he's basically done. But there's some indication that he could - at the very least - find a few hits pretty soon. He's not striking out as much recently and making some hard contact. 

The tough part is - once he breaks the hitless streak, then what? By all accounts he will most likely start another pretty long one. But all you can do is hope he figures something out. 

We are on the same page my friend.  And I am most certainly hoping for a turn around.  Hell because I like Chris Davis, not because it's good for Baltimore.  But I am not a fan of the spotlight for ineptitude.  It is bad for the franchise.  And as you note, the tough part is that bright light isn't going away.

We are essentially hoping for outlier activities for a player who no longer is a player.