Chris Davis 2019 and beyond

[Uli2001]

This thing with Davis is a statistical anomaly. He hasn't just broken the record, he smashed it by almost 10 ABs and counting. In a sport with this long a history this is unheard of.

[atomic]

He really hit that ball well. If anyone else was batting that would have been a hit. Problem is the other team knows Davis will never hit it on the ground to the left side of the infield.  

[TheOtherRipken]

6 hours ago, Sir_Loin said:

Surprised at this point he hasn't tried to at least lay one down...at least to get the mojo going.

As demoralizing as this must be for him, I can’t imagine it would help him mentally for the bunt to be the only way he can get a hit. Think that would sap the rest of his 0.0000000001% of remaining mojo.

[Aristotelian]

3 minutes ago, TheOtherRipken said:

As demoralizing as this must be for him, I can’t imagine it would help him mentally for the bunt to be the only way he can get a hit. Think that would sap the rest of his 0.0000000001% of remaining mojo.

Getting him to bunt effectively would beat help beat the shift and turn some of his outs into hits...like the final AB tonight that he lined right into the shift.

[interloper]

His liner tonight had an expected BA of .970.

About as close to a 100% sure hit as you can get. Amazing.

[atomic]

7 minutes ago, interloper said:

His liner tonight had an expected BA of .970.

About as close to a 100% sure hit as you can get. Amazing.

I was absolutely sure that was a hit off the bat.  But they were playing him perfectly.  I hope he gets a hit tomorrow. 

[Camden_yardbird]

Chris is the only hitter in game who, like a pitcher, hits his spots.

I feel so bad for him.

[LA2]

2 hours ago, TonySoprano said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why wasn't this attempted last year? Seems more constructive than batting him leadoff.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

9 minutes ago, LA2 said:

Why wasn't this attempted last year? Seems more constructive than batting him leadoff.

Because Buck.

[OriolesMagic83]

2 hours ago, TonySoprano said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hate to see the O's waste resources trying to "save" Chris Davis.  He's probably around a .100 hitter.  That would be like dumping major resources into trying to make a 26 year old A ball player into a major leaguer.  Of course its not my money.  I had hopes (probably unrealistic) over the winter that Davis could be a replacement level player, but he's just done.  Its like trying to watch a guy who should have retired a couple of years ago, try to "save" his career.

[LA2]

10 hours ago, interloper said:

His liner tonight had an expected BA of .970.

About as close to a 100% sure hit as you can get. Amazing.

Yes, dear Interloper: You are getting closer to what the real story beneath all this is. Davis's seemingly preposterous contract bought his willingness to serve as both the scapegoat and showcase for a historic turning point in baseball statistics. Hits, it has been decided by an analytics cabal, are as trivial as RBI's, ERA, Saves, and W/L record in the evaluation of performance. Within five to six years, we will all be talking pure exit velo, launch angle, expected BA, etc., and no longer clearly remember what a hit actually was or, at the least, why it seemed to matter so much. There will come a time--and I warn the entire Hangout that it's coming sooner than most of us realize--when we will all turn our lonely eyes to Chris Davis' post-Crush period in reverential recognition of when it all began: irreversible, unbreakable, and liberating to hitters everywhere, who, after all, will no longer have to risk injury while running and sliding or boredom while standing on an utterly uncommunicative sack.

The fans at OPACY are already way ahead of us! Witness what they applaud--Have they not kenned the secret meaning of Davis' newly-bearded grins after every snared line drive and deep flyout? Why do we persist in our idiotic obsession with uni-dimensional counting stats, with scores and standings? Chris is baseball's Christ--he has more than earned his pay.

[nate22]

"Streak" aside, if bunting is going to help the team, maybe he should try it.  This streak has taken a life of it's own, maybe Davis can try to do something that will help the club win if he's going to refuse a demotion or buyout. At the very worst, he might be able to put runners in scoring position for someone else to try and score them. Trying to win games should take precedence over him getting a hit and who knows?; maybe both can happen this way.

[Babkins]

2 hours ago, LA2 said:

Yes, dear Interloper: You are getting closer to what the real story beneath all this is. Davis's seemingly preposterous contract bought his willingness to serve as both the scapegoat and showcase for a historic turning point in baseball statistics. Hits, it has been decided by an analytics cabal, are as trivial as RBI's and W/L record in the evaluation of performance. Within a few years, we will all be talking pure exit velo, launch angle, expected BA, etc., and no longer clearly remember what a hit actually was or, at the least, why it seemed to matter so much. In retrospect--and I warn the entire Hangout that the time is coming sooner than most of us realize--we will all turn our lonely eyes reverentially to Chris Davis' post-Crush period as when it all began: irreversible, unbreakable, and liberating to hitters everywhere, who, after all, will no longer have to risk injury while running and sliding or boredom while standing on an utterly uncommunicative sack.

The fans at OPACY are already way ahead of us! Witness what they applaud--Have they not kenned the secret meaning of Davis' grin after every snared line drive and deep flyout? Why do we persist in our idiotic obsession with unlinear counting stats, with scores and standings? Chris is baseball's Christ--he has earned his pay.

This is A+ work.

[Frobby]

9 hours ago, LA2 said:

Why wasn't this attempted last year? Seems more constructive than batting him leadoff.

Why do people act as though the leadoff experiment lasted half a season or something?   It lasted 5 games!    And really it was just an attempt to get Davis to focus on getting on base, something he’d been good at for most of his career until his OBP fell to a still non-embarrassing .309 in 2017.   For context, among Orioles’ qualifiers:

2015: .361 1st

2016: .332 3rd

2017: .309 7th

I think it was just an attempt to jump start his focus on OBP in 2018.    Obviously it failed, but it’s not as if they stick with that experiment a long time.

 

[LA2]

1 minute ago, Frobby said:

Why do people act as though the leadoff experiment lasted half a season or something?   It lasted 5 games!    And really it was just an attempt to get Davis to focus on getting on base, something he’d been good at for most of his career until his OBP fell to a still non-embarrassing .309 in 2017.   For context, among Orioles’ qualifiers:

2015: .361 1st

2016: .332 3rd

2017: .309 7th

I think it was just an attempt to jump start his focus on OBP in 2018.    Obviously it failed, but it’s not as if they stick with that experiment a long time.

 

I think you're mistakenly grouping me in with some other posters. Back then, I actually thought it was a neat idea. All I meant was it pales in comparison to the potential of the type of work that is being done now with Davis. (Who I suggest, nonetheless, is trying to launch a revolution in baseball stats.)