Position: C
Height: 6’0”
Weight: 210 lbs
Bats/Throws: R/R
Born: 09/21/1999
College: University of Louisville
How Acquired: Drafted 1st Rd., 1st Overall, 2021
Bonus: $6,500,000
40-man Roster: Yes
Rule 5 Eligible: N/A
Minor League Free Agency: N/A
Options Left: 2
Overview
The Pirates made Davis the first overall pick in the 2021 draft. He went to Louisville with the reputation of a defense-oriented catcher and hit 283/348/400 as a freshman. As a sophomore, he made significant improvements to his swing and batted 372/481/698 in the abbreviated college season. As a junior, he established himself as the undoubted top college position player in the draft, batting 370/482/663, with 15 home runs. Davis is particularly known for his plate discipline, as he had more walks than strikeouts for his career, including 31 and 24, respectively, as a junior. He’s hit breaking balls and changeups about the same as fastballs, which is another plus. Defensively, he’s known for his arm, which gets 70 grades on the 20-80 scouting scale. Statcast rates his arm strength in the 98th percentile. Some scouts, though, were doubtful whether his receiving skills would be good enough for him to stay behind the plate, and those doubts persisted after he became a pro. Davis runs well for a catcher.
Davis was one of a handful of draft prospects who were considered potential top picks. It was widely believed that the Pirates saw little difference between the possibilities, beyond preferring a hitter, and that they would select the player within that group whom they thought would sign for an amount the furthest below slot. Davis in fact signed for $6.5M, well below the slot value of $8,415,300.
2021-22
Davis went to Greensboro for his first partial year and got off to a big start, but after a few games he suffered an oblique injury and missed the rest of the year. He went back to Greensboro in 2022 and earned a quick promotion to Altoona, but he spent the rest of the year struggling with injuries. He slumped when he first got to Altoona and the Pirates discovered he had a hairline wrist fracture from being hit by a pitch. (On the season, he got hit 20 times in just 59 games.) He tried to come back from the injury too early, struggled to hit, then went back on the injured list from the beginning of July to late August. He ended up getting just over 200 ABs on the season. Davis drew negative comments from some scouts on both his defense and hitting. The latter is tougher to gauge, given that he was never really healthy after he left Greensboro. On defense, he threw out just 13% of base stealers despite the strong arm. He played two games in right and was expected to try the outfield more.
2023-24
The Pirates’ handling of Davis in 2023 was, to put it mildly, bizarre. He went initially to Altoona and quickly dominated the pitching there, which at least showed the problems he had in 2022 were injury-related. The Pirates left him in AA until early June, supposedly because he needed to catch and Endy Rodriguez was in Indianapolis. Davis finally moved up to Indy at that point, then after ten games got promoted to Pittsburgh. He caught only two innings in the majors, instead playing most of the time in right field, where he’d seldom played before. He had an extremely rough time there; according to Statcast and FanGraphs, he was one of the worst defensive players at any position. The Pirates, though, firmly rejected the idea of Davis playing first and, while still insisting he’s a catcher, refused to play him at catcher. Davis hit well initially and, on July 23, still had an .832 OPS. He slumped badly from that point, striking out far more than he had in his first month, until he went on the injured list due to a swollen hand that he’d injured some time earlier. He came back for the last two weeks of the season, although he didn’t hit much better. It seems likely the hand injury impacted Davis, especially given his experience in 2022. The possible impact of exposure to hitting coach Andy Haines can’t be eliminated as a cause, though.
With Endy Rodriguez out for 2024, Davis figured to have a chance to start behind the plate and the Pirates continued to insist that they see him as a catcher. Their signing of Yasmani Grandal, though, indicated otherwise. Davis did serve as the principal catcher in April, when Grandal was hurt, but he struggled to hit and was sent to AAA in early May. He returned to the majors briefly in June and then came back up in late August, but went on the injured list for the rest of the year in early September with wrist soreness that apparently had been bothering him for some time.
Davis’ hitting in 2024 was more of the same. At Indianapolis he batted 307/401/555, with 13 home runs in 57 games. With the Pirates, though, he hit 144/242/212 with one home run in 37 games and a 37% K rate. With Indy, he threw out just one of 37 base stealers, although with the Pirates he caught 20%.
Stats
Transactions
July 11, 2021: Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1st round, 1st overall pick; signed on July 18.
June 19, 2023: Contract selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates.