How about the progress Ben Davis has been making this year? Pretty exciting to watch. He's really shortened his stroke and learned to be more selective at the plate. A few years ago I compared Davis as a prospect to big-league catchers Mike Lieberthal and Dan Wilson. To revisit those comparisons, let's see how the troika fared at age 24:

                    G   AB   R   H  2B  3B  HR  RBI  BB  SO    BA   OBP   SLG
Lieberthal         50  166  21  42   8   0   7   23  10  30  .253  .297  .428
Wilson             36   76   6  17   3   0   0    8   9  16  .224  .263  .302
Davis (to date)    57  185  27  53  10   0   6   30  31  40  .286  .389  .438

Wilson, as a college draftee, was just getting started in the bigs at age 24. When he finally did establish himself, he never put up numbers anywhere near what Davis is now doing. In retrospect, the gap between the high school player and the college player, in terms of potential growth, turned out to be larger than I initially expected.

As for Davis, after a hot start, he hit the skids in May, batting just .272/.368/.370. He's rebounded some in June, with half of his 12 hits this month going for extra bases, but his plate discipline has regressed. It's not surprising that he's cooled off, though, given that:

1. He'd never done anything like this before at any level as a pro.
2. He still has to play the most physically and mentally demanding position on the field.
3. His backup, Wiki Gonzalez, has been hurt, forcing Davis to start the last 15 straight games.
4. He has two swings to maintain, one from the left and one from the right.

Assuming he has a healthy backup the rest of the way to give him an occasional day off, I expect Davis will end up hitting around .275/.380/.430, which ain't too shabby for a guy projected before the season by STATS to hit .254/.319/.383 and by Ron Shandler to hit .247/.318/.393.

In conclusion, I still like the comparison with Lieberthal. I'm not sure Davis will hit with quite the power that Lieberthal eventually displayed (though I still expect 20-25 a year), but if he keeps his walk rate even close to this level, Davis could offer similar production, albeit in a slightly different shape.

Return to Top