Attention Chris Davis

[BohKnowsBmore]

26 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Davis hasn't looked as nearly as bad as he has in previous years.  He's made solid contact.  I'm not sure what some of you are complaining about.

Yep, I'm not under some illusion that we're going to see 2013 Davis any time soon, but his approach has looked better (all through exhibition season and continuing into real games) and he's been striking the ball well, even if it hasn't always ended with a positive result.

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, BohKnowsBmore said:

Yep, I'm not under some illusion that we're going to see 2013 Davis any time soon, but his approach has looked better (all through exhibition season and continuing into real games) and he's been striking the ball well, even if it hasn't always ended with a positive result.

I agree.  He's hit some balls really hard, straight at some guys that have shifted on him.  Yesterday's double off the wall was very encouraging.  I don't think he'll get back to how he used to be but there's some reason to hope that he's gotten better.

[BohKnowsBmore]

2 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I agree.  He's hit some balls really hard, straight at some guys that have shifted on him.  Yesterday's double off the wall was very encouraging.  I don't think he'll get back to how he used to be but there's some reason to hope that he's gotten better.

And even if he doesn't, I don't see any value in obsessing over every individual negative outcome result as though that's the new piece of information that's the end of Chris Davis's tenure in Baltimore.

One thing I will say, it's actually worth discussing some of the positive results as it's trait-based scouting, or evidence that he's still capable of producing positive results.

[Moose Milligan]

8 minutes ago, BohKnowsBmore said:

I don't see any value in obsessing over every individual negative outcome result as though that's the new piece of information that's the end of Chris Davis's tenure in Baltimore.

 

You must be new here.

[esmd]

3 games in and we've already got a 6 page CD thread.....yikes....

[TommyPickles]

One of my favorite tropes of Orioles baseball is listening to the announcers compliment  and defend him when he does poorly.  It's been going on for years.

"Did you see that?  He took some real good cuts on that strike out..."

"Davis absolutely mashed that ground ball to third base that ended the inning"

"Say what you want about him going 50 ABs without a hit, he sure knows how to field a ball down at first base"

"Yea he's 1-11, but he sure is putting on muscle"

 

It's so sad lol

[Il BuonO]

21 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

If Bunting is so easy why'd he only have a .144 career batting average?

Eh, because he wasn’t bunting most of the time?

[interloper]

5 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

I agree.  He's hit some balls really hard, straight at some guys that have shifted on him.  Yesterday's double off the wall was very encouraging.  I don't think he'll get back to how he used to be but there's some reason to hope that he's gotten better.

He's swinging the bat. As sad as it is, that honestly is progress.

[Babypowder]

20 hours ago, Frobby said:

It’s not easy to bunt for a hit when the fielders aren’t shifting, and are probably playing a little shallow since, well, you’re a .144 hitter with zero power.   It’s a lot easier when the 3B is playing 20 feet to the left of 2B at a normal depth.   

I saw Davis attempt 3 bunts in ST a couple of seasons ago when he said it was something he was considering trying more. Judging by the two bunts I saw him lay down and his failure to even lay down the third, there's very good reason he isn't trying it.

[Oriole1940]

Not being a local person over there, I am not sure, but from what I gather, Davis is still hitting from Center to Left Field much of the time  So he has lost the reflexes to identify a pitch quickly enough to turn on it and hit it with  power to Rightfield.  He appears to not be striking out as much so far, so that is an improvement.  I am rooting for him to end his career with reasonably good seasons, if not up to a par of his really good Power Seasons.  

[Pheasants]

5 minutes ago, Oriole1940 said:

Not being a local person over there, I am not sure, but from what I gather, Davis is still hitting from Center to Left Field much of the time  So he has lost the reflexes to identify a pitch quickly enough to turn on it and hit it with  power to Rightfield.  He appears to not be striking out as much so far, so that is an improvement.  I am rooting for him to end his career with reasonably good seasons, if not up to a par of his really good Power Seasons.  

We want him to to hit to Center to Left Field in order to not hit into the shift. If he has made a decision to swing slightly later, more power to him.  In his best years, he had a lot of HRs to the opposite field.  If the other team has to quit shifting, so much the better.

[BohKnowsBmore]

24 minutes ago, Oriole1940 said:

Not being a local person over there, I am not sure, but from what I gather, Davis is still hitting from Center to Left Field much of the time  So he has lost the reflexes to identify a pitch quickly enough to turn on it and hit it with  power to Rightfield.  He appears to not be striking out as much so far, so that is an improvement.  I am rooting for him to end his career with reasonably good seasons, if not up to a par of his really good Power Seasons.  

***Incredibly small sample size alert***

In 2020 thus far, Davis has 10 batted balls (balls put in play) - as a result the percentages and raw numbers will almost be identical, but I am going to use percentages for comparison to 2019/career.

Of those ten batted balls, 30% were pulled, 50% were in the center of the field, and 20% were to the opposite field. For his career those numbers are 44.7%/31.1%/24.1%; for 2019 those numbers were 39.2%/38.6%/22.2%. Interestingly, from 2016-2020, his pull percentage has been less in every single season 2013-2015 (and only one year exceeds his 2012 mark). So it seems like he's actively tried to become a less extreme pull hitter.

Getting back to those ten batted balls, 30% have been line drives, 50% have been grounders, and 20% have been fly balls. This compares to career and 2019 numbers of 22.8%/36.0%/41.2% and 23.4%/38.0%/38.6%, respectively.

Finally, on the split between soft/medium/hard hit % he has been 10%/60%/30% this year, compared to career and 2019 numbers of 12.0%/50.7%%/37.3% and 11.1%/50.9%/38.0%, respectively.

As far as results, the two plate appearances that did not result in batted balls (10/12 did), were a walk and a strikeout. This puts his BB% slightly below his career number (8.3% vs. 9.9%), but his K% WAY below his career number (8.3% vs. 32.9%). 

All together, his approach this season has been better (in a very very SSS), but the results haven't materialized. This is the result of a .100 BABIP (vs. a .302 career mark, .270 in 2019). Based on the batted ball profile (other than maybe a few balls on the ground), it tracks that current results are very attributable to bad luck and we should expect something closer to career numbers re: BABIP.

If 30% (to round off the career and 2019 BABIP number), rather than 10% of his batted balls had made their way for hits - let's call them singles - then his current line would be .272/.333/.363/.700, not great, but certainly not terrible given the young season.

Maybe there's something bad about his batted balls that the above numbers aren't capturing, but I think we even need to give CD a chance to let his results normalize before scrutinizing his 2020 line too hard.

[spiritof66]

3 hours ago, Babypowder said:

I saw Davis attempt 3 bunts in ST a couple of seasons ago when he said it was something he was considering trying more. Judging by the two bunts I saw him lay down and his failure to even lay down the third, there's very good reason he isn't trying it.

Whether Davis can push a bunt toward third base on the third attempt would mean nothing to me.

I'd be interested in whether he can do it after a few thousand attempts.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

9 hours ago, esmd said:

3 games in and we've already got a 6 page CD thread.....yikes....

We're on pace for 180 pages by the end of the regular season and when the Orioles make the playoffs when can get this thread to 200+ pages. 

[SteveA]

Sorry I started it.   But after hearing Davis say he didn't want to because it's "not my game", then watching live as an extremely high paid MVP caliber player got out of a slump by bunting against an identical shift to the one Davis sees, I just thought it was worthing mentioning.