Chris Davis Turning the Corner?

by Mickey Hepner on Jul 28, 2010 10:39 AM CDT

In his last seven games Chris Davis is hitting a very respectable .286/.375/.429. Yet, he also has 10 Ks over that span. I'd certainly take that .804 OPS for the rest of the season! Contrast that with his performance in his first 8 games after being recalled: .138/.219/.138 with only 4 Ks. Perhaps Davis was worrying too much about his strikeouts when he first came up, and is now settling in better. I know a seven game sample is too small to say whether Davis has finally turned the corner...but seven games of decent hitting is better than what Smoak has been giving the Mariners.

For the record, Justin Smoak is .036/.069/.036 over his last seven games.

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SSS alert, for sure, but it's worth keeping an eye on

Perhaps I’m too optimistic, but I at least like his at-bats better right now than earlier in the season. That walk he drew in the 9th last night was a very mature plate appearance.

"LSJ is jealous that the M’s fans have a sucky team that they can whine and snark about. We’re stuck with a good team in first place." -- Adam Von Marriagesmasher

"I’m gonna go on record here and say a great many things excuse throwing a chair at someone." – D.A. Tron

by WestTxAg06 on Jul 28, 2010 10:41 AM CDT reply actions

He's certainly...

laying off more of those pitches outside or in the dirt that he would strikeout on last year.

But the missing power is a big concern for me right now.

"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates

by slc ranger on Jul 28, 2010 10:53 AM CDT reply actions

That Smoak slash

Amazing…

If it was a demotion it’d be the sulk period. I guess a trade to the 2010 M’s amounts to as much.

Go Strangers.

by hightowersmith on Jul 28, 2010 10:54 AM CDT reply actions

The M's

What a bummer it must be for Smoak to see himself traded from a first place team to that disaster.

Not mediocre. Right about average

by trza on Jul 28, 2010 1:53 PM CDT up reply actions

Welcome.

You’re new here, so I’ll explain. Chris Davis is Satan’s sperm child who will never, ever succeed at the big league level and Smoak was the Second Coming of Mark “JC” Teixeira.

"Drinks are on me if Lewis posts >168IP and an era lower than 3.86." by RangerMad on Jan 20, 2010 12:36 PM PST

by jam0152 on Jul 28, 2010 11:02 AM CDT reply actions

Seems off.

Everybody was in love with Chris Davis. He only has such a terrible reputation now because he’s been bad pretty consistently.

by brettgardner on Jul 28, 2010 11:07 AM CDT up reply actions

Everybody was in love with Chris Davis.

/clearing throat/ JW

by RangerMad on Jul 28, 2010 11:14 AM CDT up reply actions

I'm sure even he was in '08.

by brettgardner on Jul 28, 2010 11:20 AM CDT up reply actions

He would never admit to it

"LSJ is jealous that the M’s fans have a sucky team that they can whine and snark about. We’re stuck with a good team in first place." -- Adam Von Marriagesmasher

"I’m gonna go on record here and say a great many things excuse throwing a chair at someone." – D.A. Tron

by WestTxAg06 on Jul 28, 2010 11:37 AM CDT up reply actions

Find one of the LSB Do-gooders to do the research

and you might find where I thought before the season that Chris Davis was going to hit 30+ bombs in 2009. You don’t hit that well at the age of 22 without having a tremendous amount of natural ability.

It was only after the 1 for 22, the 3 for 44 (with 24Ks), the 6 for 63 (or somesuch) and the 114Ks in 277 plate appearances (with a .256 OBP!!) that I began to scream at this organization to get him out of here.

I’ve never seen a player suck that big of a dick for that long and be allowed to play almost every day.

FWIW, nothing I’ve seen since he came back last August, Opening Day this year or his latest return has changed my mind.

"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."

"The Influence continues." Josey Wales (1/18/10)

by Josey Wales on Jul 28, 2010 12:27 PM CDT up reply actions

Do you think he's having better PAss since Smoak was traded and he was recalled?

The last week, for sure, seems like it’s been better.

I may well be wrong, because I haven’t researched it beyond what my own eyes have viewed.

"LSJ is jealous that the M’s fans have a sucky team that they can whine and snark about. We’re stuck with a good team in first place." -- Adam Von Marriagesmasher

"I’m gonna go on record here and say a great many things excuse throwing a chair at someone." – D.A. Tron

by WestTxAg06 on Jul 28, 2010 1:21 PM CDT up reply actions

I've been out of town off and on for about 3 weeks running and haven't

been able to watch the Rangers as much as I’d like to but I’m looking at the bottom line of production from Chris Davis.

His level of production, much like last year, is unacceptable for a 1B in the AL.

"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."

"The Influence continues." Josey Wales (1/18/10)

by Josey Wales on Jul 28, 2010 7:11 PM CDT up reply actions

I didn't hate Davis back in 2008

but I was advocating trading him in August ’08, saying his trade value had peaked and that he was long-term replaceable in the organization

http://www.lonestarball.com/2008/8/13/592836/new-dmn-rangers-newsletter#8081079
http://www.lonestarball.com/2008/8/16/595040/saturday-morning-stuff#8147943

And on July 17, 2008 I said this

2. Davis goes down to OKC and is able to improve his game. (Pause while people laugh at me for saying that…). Davis looks like Mark McGwire out there, which isn’t a bad thing, but I doubt he’s going to maintain the 1 homer every 10 ABs pace he’s had. And if you aren’t hitting 60 homers a year, you’d better put up a better BA than .259 and a better OBP than .328. He’s K’s 1 in 4 ABs so far.

http://www.lonestarball.com/2008/7/17/573422/thursday-morning-things#7453946

Go Rice Owls!

by JBImaknee on Jul 28, 2010 12:18 PM CDT up reply actions

oh, and I don't want to be the "I told you so" guy

but I don’t like being thought of as a bandwagoner either

Go Rice Owls!

by JBImaknee on Jul 28, 2010 12:25 PM CDT up reply actions

Odd

This sentiment seems very much at odds when Law made his “Enjoy it while it lasts” comment during a chat in 2008.

by Excel Hearts Choi on Jul 28, 2010 11:34 AM CDT up reply actions

Remember that time LSB wanted to beat up Keith Law for suggesting Davis wasn't a perennial All-Star?

That was fun.

"LSJ is jealous that the M’s fans have a sucky team that they can whine and snark about. We’re stuck with a good team in first place." -- Adam Von Marriagesmasher

"I’m gonna go on record here and say a great many things excuse throwing a chair at someone." – D.A. Tron

by WestTxAg06 on Jul 28, 2010 11:38 AM CDT up reply actions

Remember that time in '08 when Chris Davis was really good. That was funner.

"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates

by slc ranger on Jul 28, 2010 11:52 AM CDT up reply actions

I'm going to go ahead and clarify that this was sarcasm

I thought I’d layed it on pretty thick. CD’s still got a shot… I haven’t given up on him completely. yet.

"Drinks are on me if Lewis posts >168IP and an era lower than 3.86." by RangerMad on Jan 20, 2010 12:36 PM PST

by jam0152 on Jul 28, 2010 11:50 AM CDT up reply actions

One thing

I have noticed is that some of our guys have had slow starts this season when coming off the DL or back from the minors. Hamilton was off to a so-so start until June. Kinsler came back really slow and then took off. Now, Davis.

I wonder if it’s just taking time for the hitters to really adapt to the approach that Hurdle is preaching to them. Davis’s approach seems to be good right now so let’s hope he takes off like Hamilton and Kinsler have.

"Thank God for Feldman." - Ron Washington to Eric Nadel, August 2008

by kentbenfer on Jul 28, 2010 11:03 AM CDT reply actions

You make a good point about Josh and Hurdle

There may be some similarities there. I hope so.

by RangerMad on Jul 28, 2010 11:16 AM CDT up reply actions

Add Cruz to that list.

Freude schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium, Freude!

by t ball on Jul 28, 2010 1:22 PM CDT up reply actions

Davis has looked so much better lately

He has gone away from the soft little swing he had when he first came back up and is taking good cuts at balls now. Sure its led to more Ks but thats to be expected from him. It also has led to more power. Deeper fly balls, ball sinto the alley, etc. He looks like he has a plan when he goes to the plate. He goes up looking for a fastball to start off with and if he gets it he takes a rip. If not he has shown he can lay off pitches. Thats a great first step in the process. Now if he can start squaring up some of those balls and he maintains his new found eye at the plate he could be on the cusp of breaking out big time.

by bigsteve on Jul 28, 2010 11:46 AM CDT reply actions

It also has led to more power

0 HR in 2010

"Jurick Profar is tired of practice!! I wanna play I wanna play….waiting for march 12 to go to spring training! to kill some pichers:D:D I am Jurickson Profar son of judeska and chesmond.. And I was born ready! ready to play baseball!!" - Jurickson Profar

by chrisR on Jul 28, 2010 12:20 PM CDT up reply actions

Chris Davis?

Just another Jason Botts.

So when is that guys who’s older than Davis going to be ready? Mitch Moreland, I believe

by chrisR on Jul 28, 2010 12:19 PM CDT reply actions

I really think this line of thinking is pretty far off.

Botts was a lot older than CD, CD is just 24, alot of big swinging dudes dont figure it out til 26 or so. Pena, Dunn, Howard and so on seem to have taken a bit longer to catch up to ML pitching. When we gave Botts his chance, he was already 27 or so, Davis is too talented and too hard working to just write off like this at 24… Of course, I may just be an enternal optomist, but at the same time, I don’t think waiting on CD is going to be a fruitless endevour.

Feliz says his greatest thrill was striking out Boston Red Sox DH David Ortiz, one of his heroes. Yet, when he called to tell his parents, his mother had a request: Strike out New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, too.
"So when I did that," Feliz says, "I told my mom, 'There you go. There's your present. Don't ask me to strike anyone else out, OK?'

by blalock84 on Jul 28, 2010 1:15 PM CDT up reply actions

A ran these numbers before Davis was called back up

Davis had 789 PA’s at that time so I compared him to other Ranger 1st basemen through their first 789 PA’s

M. Teixeira …255/.333/.479….35 HR 110 RBI
A. Gonzalez ..279/.330/.470….30 HR 99 RBI
C. Pena …….244/.320/.443….31 HR 110 RBI
C. Davis ……253/.302/.475….38 HR 115 RBI

Drawing no conclusions, just informational

by Evil Monkey on Jul 28, 2010 12:46 PM CDT reply actions

Good stuff, that's interesting

"LSJ is jealous that the M’s fans have a sucky team that they can whine and snark about. We’re stuck with a good team in first place." -- Adam Von Marriagesmasher

"I’m gonna go on record here and say a great many things excuse throwing a chair at someone." – D.A. Tron

by WestTxAg06 on Jul 28, 2010 1:21 PM CDT up reply actions

Trouble is

if you split those numbers for each I doubt that the others all started off great and then hit terribly for the last 300-400 of those ABs. Davis had a very hot start that is propping those numbers up, instead of starting slow and then making progress.

Freude schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium, Freude!

by t ball on Jul 28, 2010 1:24 PM CDT up reply actions