BRADENTON, Fla. -— A former No. 1 overall pick inspired some audible excitement from a Pirates coach on Sunday — and no, it wasn’t Paul Skenes.
During live batting practice at Pirate City, 2021 No. 1 overall pick Henry Davis perfectly timed up a first-pitch sinker from left-hander Tim Mayza. But rather than turn on the offering for a towering moon shot, Davis grooved it to the opposite field for what could’ve been a double to right-center field in the scrimmage setting.
“Oh, yeah!” the coach bellowed.
Davis, 25, recognized that after a forgettable 2024 season, he had to change things up in the batter’s box. A goal of his while training in Tennessee for most of his offseason was to get himself to a spot where he could focus on driving the ball to the middle of the field.
Last season, manager Derek Shelton said Davis got a little too rotational with his swing, and his spray chart consequently became quite pull happy. Typically a guy who hunts fastballs with success, Davis posted just a .056 average against 157 MLB four-seamers in 2024, per Baseball Savant.
Now, Davis is in a simple but efficient setup at the plate. His hands are quieter when loading than they were last year, and he’s not nearly as crouched. In essence, Davis said he’s gotten back to basics.
“A lot of the things that have led me to be the hitter I am over the years,” Davis told the Post-Gazette on Saturday, “I kind of got away from it last year and never really was able to get my feet under me the last couple times in the big leagues.
“But, encouraged by the direction I’m going. And obviously, [I’m] going to work every day and try to put myself in the best position I can be.”
Last spring, discussions about Davis centered around his defensive development. After making it to the majors as a right fielder in 2023, Davis exclusively caught or served as a designated hitter a year ago.
Now, one thing that’s been a constant during all of Davis’ baseball career has been called into question: Can he hit? Certainly, Davis has ample evidence from his time in the minors that could buoy his confidence.
But currently, Davis is focused on building confidence from his current body of work on the hitting side as opposed to what transpired in the past.
“Definitely [did] a couple things early on last year that were getting in my way and putting myself in a tough position to cover all parts of the zone and be a tough out, which is something I take a lot of pride in,” Davis said. “So, getting back to that — I actually felt very good about my work in Triple-A last year. In the couple quick [MLB] stints, it was tough to translate it.”
What did translate in 2024, though, was Davis’ defense. According to various advanced metrics, Davis proved that he can at least be an adequate MLB catcher, albeit one that still has room for improvement.
While Davis’ volume of hitting reps outpaced his catching work at times during this past offseason, he was still diligent about trying to become a better defensive catcher. One area he sought to improve upon was receiving breaking balls down in the zone and being as aggressive as possible — within reason — about catching them earlier.
“I had decent success around the other zones,” Davis said. “That was the one area I really felt I could make some margins up.”
As general manager Ben Cherington articulated on Friday, Davis’ development has hardly been streamlined. Rather, the backstop who has hit .290 with a robust .944 OPS in the minors has been challenged, whether it be injuries or his showings in MLB games.
“We believe he’ll be better from going through that,” Cherington said. “The same reasons that we would bet on him coming out of the draft — the skills, the work ethic, the willingness to take on a challenge, the toughness — all of those things are still there.
“We’re still making that bet.”
Now, Davis finds himself in a different scenario than last season when it comes to making the Pirates’ opening day roster. Not only does he need to prove his tweaked swing and approach can help him reach his full potential at the plate, but he also has to fend off Endy Rodriguez and Jason Delay, since Cherington said Joey Bart will be one of the Pirates’ two catchers.
Regardless of how this spring plays out and if he makes Shelton’s squad out of camp, Davis remains a coveted commodity within the organization. The franchise still has a great deal of optimism that Davis can put it all together less than four years removed from his draft date.
“There's no panic,” Shelton said. “We know he's going to be a good player. We know he's going to be a good hitter.”
First Published: February 16, 2025, 7:55 p.m.
