Over the course of the last nine years, many labels have been applied to Chris Davis.
He has been selected in the final round of the draft, hyped as a top prospect, and traded as a failed big leaguer.
A new label can safely be applied to Davis, now 27 and in his sixth MLB season: elite power bat.
Davis leads the Baltimore Orioles into Toronto Friday for a three-game series against the Blue Jays. He emerged as a serious power threat last year by hitting 33 home runs and now leads the big leagues with 26 homers.
It took him a while to get here. Davis was first drafted by the Yankees with the 1,496th selection in the 50th round of the 2004 draft. Just two players — Garrett Lingle and Eric Gonzalez — were selected after Davis.
Two seasons later, the Rangers selected him in the fifth round and before long he had become a top prospect.
He reached the major leagues as a 22-year-old and hit 21 home runs in his age-23 season, but soon started to struggle. The Rangers sent him to the minor leagues and ultimately determined that he was most valuable to them as a trade chip.
On the day before the 2011 non-waiver trade deadline, the Rangers traded Davis and Tommy Hunter to the Orioles for Koji Uehara and cash. Uehara allowed eight home runs in 19.1 innings with Texas that year, and Davis went on to flourish with his new team.
In his first full season with Baltimore, Davis hit 33 home runs and posted a .270/.326/.501 batting line, emerging as a legitimate power threat in 2012. This year he has started producing at another level altogether.
Consider:
- He’s on a pace to hit 58 home runs with 51 doubles and 146 RBI
- He’s hitting .337/.413/.720
- He ranks in the top five in MLB in home runs (26, first), batting average (.337, fourth), on-base percentage (.413, fifth), slugging percentage (.720, first) and wins above replacement (4.2, third)
- He hits the ball out to all fields with seven opposite field homers so far this year
Scariest of all? Davis might not even be the Orioles’ best player.
That honour could just as easily go to Manny Machado, the 20-year-old third baseman who leads Major League Baseball in hits and doubles.
A year ago this time it would have been reasonable to question Davis’ power numbers. That’s a whole lot tougher to do right now.
