Henry Davis’ Impact on the Pirates
Courtesy of the Pittsburgh Pirates
Henry Davis, the 2021 top overall prospect, has been a solid addition to the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates offense.
In the 32 games played since his call-up five weeks ago, with 115 at-bats, Davis is hitting .261 with an .351 on-base percentage, and a .417 slugging percentage. He has 12 RBIs, 13 walks, and 4 home runs, two of them being last week off of Shohei Ohtani. Davis is the first player to do so.
So far, Davis has had a strong command of the strike zone, looking very comfortable at the plate. He does have a limited sample size, but nonetheless, his comfort up there is a positive sign, especially given the discomfort that many rookies often experience. Davis has an impressive 9.9 percent walk rate, higher both than the Pirates’ 9.2 percent average and MLB 8.6 percent average. Rookies are usually quick and aggressive at the plate, especially when facing breaking ball pitches, but Davis has shown a lot of solid discipline.
His strikeout rate is 19.9 percent, lower than his career 25.4 percent average in the minor leagues. His current strikeout rate is also lower than the team average of 23.4 percent and current MLB rate of 22.8 percent. He has a lower swing rate at pitches both in and out of the zone compared to MLB average, as well as a higher contact rate. His hard-hit rate is 46.7 percent, much higher than the league average rate of 36.1 percent.
Somewhat surprisingly, Davis is fairly fast, with a 28.2 feet per second sprint speed. This puts him in the 76th percentile of MLB players. His 3 steals in 6 attempts isn’t great, but with a bit of practice and better reaction time, this could improve greatly.
All these statistics demonstrate just how valuable Davis can be to the Pirates going forward; he has strong discipline, hits the ball hard, and is able to show up in big moments. The small sample size does mean those numbers are subject to fluctuation, but a solid start is a solid start. It is a bit troublesome that Davis only has one inning of catching under his belt, as that was the position he was drafted for. The Pirates have been playing him in right field as a potential option, which hasn’t been too bad, but they are going to have to decide where they want him going forward.
Overall, though, Henry Davis has been a welcome addition to the Pirates offense, with strong at-bats and plate discipline for a struggling team that could use all the help it can get.
