T.R. Sullivan mailbag

T.R. Sullivan has a new mailbag column up...

There are quite a few questions, including some stuff on who the Rangers might look at in the 2009 draft and whether the team would look to bring Andruw Jones back next year, but this is the thing that jumped out at me:

I have nothing personal against Chris Davis, but his bat is noticeably slow on TV; his strikeouts are astronomical and he looks bad on sliders and sharp curves inside. I've seen no change and I've seen him overmatched. How long can we expect strikeouts in critical roles when we need to move the runners over or drive them in?
-- Craig M., Texarkana, Texas

His strikeout totals are staggering, but his other numbers aren't so bad. In his last 24 games, he is hitting .268 with a .326 on-base percentage and a .598 slugging percentage. The Rangers want him to use all fields rather than trying to pull everything. That might reduce the strikeouts. There are other first basemen struggling -- Mark Teixeira, Lance Berkman -- but none with Davis' staggering strikeout totals.

I saw those numbers and thought, that can't be right...but in fact, since starting the season 1 for 22, Davis has gone .268/.326/.598 over his last 24 games.  And even if you say, well, those numbers are artificially inflated by the one big game yesterday, Davis still has an 863 OPS for the 23 games prior to yesterday's.

Basically, Davis had an awful first week of the season, and since then, has exceeded realistic expectations.

Although he still needs to get his K-rate down.