Henry Davis (baseball)

Henry Davis (born September 21, 1999) is an American professional baseball catcher and right fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played college baseball for the University of Louisville. Davis was the first overall selection in the 2021 MLB draft, and made his MLB debut in 2023.

Henry Davis
Davis with the Altoona Curve in 2022
Pittsburgh Pirates – No. 32
Catcher / Right fielder
Born: (1999-09-21) September 21, 1999
Bedford, New York, U.S.
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
MLB debut
June 19, 2023, for the Pittsburgh Pirates
MLB statistics
(through 2023 season)
Batting average.213
Home runs7
Runs batted in24
Teams

Amateur career

Davis attended Fox Lane High School in Bedford, New York. As a junior in 2017, he batted .429.[1] In 2018, his senior year, he batted .441 with seven home runs and 32 runs batted in (RBI).[2] He was named the Perfect Game New York Player of the Year, the Section 1 Player of the Year, and also earned all-state honors.[3] He was undrafted in the 2018 Major League Baseball draft and enrolled at the University of Louisville to play college baseball for the Louisville Cardinals.

In 2019, Davis' freshman season at Louisville, he appeared in 45 games (making 35 starts) and batted .280/.345/.386 with three home runs and 23 RBI.[4] After the 2019 season, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod Baseball League, and had two hits in 15 at bats.[5] As a sophomore in 2020, he hit .372/.481/.698 with three home runs and 13 RBI over 14 games before the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6] For the 2021 season, Davis hit .370/.482/.663 with 15 home runs and 48 RBI while registering 31 walks and 24 strikeouts over fifty games.[7] In college, he exclusively played catcher on defense.[8] He was named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference First-Team and also garnered All-American honors.[9][10]

Professional career

The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Davis with the first overall selection of the 2021 Major League Baseball draft.[11][12] On July 18, 2021, Davis signed with Pittsburgh for a $6.5 million signing bonus.[13][14] Davis made his professional debut with the Rookie-level Florida Complex League Pirates on August 3, homering in his third at-bat of the game.[15] After two games, he was promoted to the Greensboro Grasshoppers of the High-A East.[16] After six games with Greensboro, he was placed on the injured list with an oblique injury and missed the remainder of the season.[17] Over eight games for the 2021 season, Davis batted .308 in 26 at-bats with three home runs and seven RBIs, while playing catcher.[18]

Davis returned to Greensboro to open the 2022 season.[19] After batting .342/.450/.585 with five home runs and 22 RBI over 22 games with Greensboro, he was promoted to the Altoona Curve of the Double-A Eastern League in early May.[20] After two games with the Curve, he was placed on the injured list with a wrist injury.[21] He returned to play in mid-June.[22] He was selected to represent the Pirates alongside Mike Burrows at the 2022 All-Star Futures Game.[23] In early July, he was placed back on the injured list with an injury to the same wrist.[24] Over 59 games for the season, Davis batted .264/.380/.472 with ten home runs and 42 RBI, almost exclusively playing catcher.[25] He was selected to play in the Arizona Fall League for the Surprise Saguaros after the season, and in 50 at bats hit .260/.435/.440.[26]

To open the 2023 season, Davis returned to Altoona.[27] After hitting .284/.433/.541 with 10 home runs in 41 games, Davis was promoted to the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians on June 4, 2023.[28] On June 18, after 10 games in Indianapolis in which he batted .286/.432/.514, the Pirates announced that Davis would be promoted to the major leagues for the first time the following day.[29] He was formally selected to the 40-man roster the following day. He was subsequently slotted into the lineup batting seventh as the starting right fielder in the team's game against the Chicago Cubs. On his first at-bat of the game and in his major league career, he hit a double.[30] On July 21, Davis hit two home runs off of Los Angeles Angels starter Shohei Ohtani. In doing so, he became the first player to hit two home runs off of Ohtani in the same game in Ohtani's career.[31]

References
  1. McCammon, Michael (June 21, 2018). "Incoming catcher Henry Davis excited to begin Louisville career". Cardinal Authority. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  2. Thomson, Josh (June 12, 2018). "Baseball: Fox Lane's Henry Davis, Beacon's Lenny Torres Jr. lead Section 1's honorees". The Journal News. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  3. Thomson, Josh (August 28, 2019). "Vote now: Who was lohud's best baseball player of the decade?". The Journal News. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  4. Zielinski III, Dan (January 21, 2021). "Henry Davis is a well-balanced catcher". Baseball Prospect Journal. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  5. "Henry Davis - Profile". pointstreak.com. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
  6. McCammon, Michael (February 24, 2021). "Preseason All-American Henry Davis is locked in for Louisville". Cardinal Authority. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  7. Leger, Justin (June 3, 2021). "ESPN projects Red Sox to draft top catching prospect". NBC Sports. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  8. "Henry Davis Amateur, College, Minor & Fall Leagues Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com.
  9. University of Louisville Public Relations (May 24, 2021). "Four Cards Receive 2021 All-ACC Honors". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  10. McCammon, Michael (June 3, 2021). "Louisville catcher Henry Davis collects All-American honor". 247sports.com. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  11. Gardner, Steve (July 12, 2021). "Pirates select Louisville catcher Henry Davis with No. 1 overall pick in MLB draft". USA Today. Retrieved July 15, 2021 – via sports.yahoo.com.
  12. Gorman, Kevin (July 11, 2021). "Pirates surprise by taking Louisville catcher Henry Davis with No. 1 overall pick in MLB Draft". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  13. Anderson, R.J.; Axisa, Mike (July 18, 2021). "Pirates sign No. 1 MLB Draft pick Henry Davis as catcher reportedly gets $6.5 million bonus". CBS Sports. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
  14. Daniels, Tim (July 18, 2021). "Henry Davis Signs Reported $6.5M Pirates Contract After Going No. 1 in 2021 MLB Draft". Bleacher Report. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
  15. "No. 1 pick Henry Davis homers in pro debut". MLB.com.
  16. "Pirates promote first overall pick Henry Davis to High-A Greensboro". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  17. "Pirates' Henry Davis: Out with oblique strain".
  18. "Henry Davis' hot start derailed by injury". August 25, 2021.
  19. "Pirates announce minor league roster assignments".
  20. "Pirates farm director on Henry Davis' promotion to Double-A Altoona: 'We think he's ready'". May 9, 2022.
  21. "Pirates prospects news: Henry Davis' injury, Jacob Gonzalez's surge and more".
  22. "Pirates' Henry Davis: Back from injured list".
  23. Mayo, Jonathan (July 7, 2022). "Here are the 2022 Futures Game rosters". MLB.com. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  24. "Pirates prospect Henry Davis back on injured list". July 8, 2022.
  25. "Henry Davis Stats, Fantasy & News".
  26. "The Arizona Fall League rosters are here -- and they're loaded". MLB.com.
  27. "Where the Pirates' Top 30 Prospects are starting season". MLB.com.
  28. "Bucs promoting prospect Henry Davis to Triple-A". mlb.com. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  29. "Pirates' Henry Davis: Promotion coming Monday". cbssports.com. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  30. "Pirates' Henry Davis: Starting in right field in debut". cbssports.com. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  31. "Pittsburgh Pirates' Henry Davis Does Something to Shohei Ohtani That No One Ever Has". si.com. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
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