Khris Davis

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Khristopher Adrian Davis

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Biographical Information[edit]

Outfielder Khris Davis was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 7th round of the 2009 amateur draft. He was signed by scout Josh Belovsky and made his pro debut that summer.

Davis, son of scout Rodney Davis, made his major league debut for the Brewers on opening day 2013 after four seasons in their farm system. Facing the Colorado Rockies, he grounded into a force out while pinch-hitting for John Axford in the 9th inning. He only played 56 games with the Brewers that year,also getting into 69 contests with the AAA Nashville Sounds. He hit .255 with 12 homers and 37 RBIs in Nashville, and .279 with 11 homers and 27 RBIs for Milwaukee. In 2014, he became the starting LF for the Brewers, with Ryan Braun sliding over to right field, and hit .244 in 144 games. He struck out 122 times and walked only 38 times, for an OBP of .299, but still managed to pull off an OPS+ above 100 tanks to good power, which included 37 doubles and 22 homers. he scored 70 runs and drove in 69.

In 2015, Davis returned as the Brewers' left fielder. He almost suffered a very embarrassing moment on May 25th when he hit 1st-inning homer off Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants, only to have it taken back when C Andrew Susac appealed to umpire Will Little that Khris had failed to touch home plate. The Brewers immediately asked for a video review, and the homer was restored when the tape showed that half of Davis's foot had grazed the plate. When he hit another homer in the 3rd inning, he was careful to step firmly in the middle of home plate, but alas, his heroics were for naught as the Brewers lost the game, 8-4. He had started the season very cold, like most of his teammates, as his batting average was only .228 and he had only hit two long balls heading into the game. On May 29th, however, he suffered a torn meniscus in his knee while taking an awkward strike three swing in a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was immediately placed on the disabled list and underwent surgery. He came back on July 7th and altogether played 121 games for the Brewers, hitting .247 with 27 homers and 66 RBIs. It was a pretty solid season - his OPS+ was 122 - but the Brewers were looking for a spot for youngster Domingo Santana, acquired via trade during the season, and on February 12, 2016, they traded Khris to the Oakland Athletics in return for two minor leaguers, C Jacob Nottingham and P Bubba Derby.

On May 17, 2016, he had the first three-homer game of his career as Oakland defeated the Texas Rangers, 8-5. After two solo blasts, he hit a walk-off grand slam off closer Shawn Tolleson with two outs in the 9th, erasing a 5-4 deficit. The 6 RBIs on the night matched a career high. It was part of an excellent year that saw him hit 42 homers and drive in 102 runs. He hit .247, as he had in 2015, but most of the other numbers he put up were improved, as he also scored 85 runs, hit 24 doubles. He split his time between left field and defense. He also started 2017 with a bang, hitting a pair of homers in the A's 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels on opening day, April 3rd. He was one of four player to hit a pair of long balls on opening day that year, following P Madison Bumgarner, Rougned Odor and Yasmani Grandal. He hit .247 with 43 homers and 110 RBIs that season, putting up his customary numbers for a team that was not really competitive. This changed in 2018 however, as he suddenly became the leader of a young and very good team. His numbers for the season were very similar; in fact, by hitting .247 for the 4th straight year, he did something no other position player had done, but this time his home run total, 48, led the American League. He also set personal bests with 98 runs and 123 RBIs, a result of hitting in the middle of a better line-up. The A's surprised everyone by not only being competitive, but racking up an outstanding total of 97 wins, putting Davis in the discussion for the 2018 American League Most Valuable Player Award he finished 8th in the voting. It was also the first time his team had qualified for the postseason and he hit a two-run homer in 4 at-bats in the A's loss to the New York Yankees in the Wild Card Game, but only after the Yankees had taken a big early lead in the game.

He started the 2019 season very strong. He homered in Oakland's first game of the season, the first of a two-game season-opening series against the Seattle Mariners played at the Tokyo Dome on March 20th. He then homered in four for the A's first five games back in the U.S. to give him the early major league lead in long balls with 5 in his first 7 games. On April 12th, he was the first major league player to reach double figures in homers with a solo shot that put Oakland ahead in the 8th, on their way to an 8-6 win over the Texas Rangers. He had particularly deadly against the Rangers, having hit 28 against them since the start of 2016, the most by any player against any team during that span. He soon cooled down after that strong start, however, and finished with just 23 long balls, less than half of his total of the previous season, in 133 games. He could not maintain his customary .247 batting average either, as it fell to .220 and his OBP took a downward turn as well, to a problematic .293. This was reflected in his OPS+ that fell all the way from 137 to 83, making him a well below-average player, especially given his minimal defensive value. The A's returned to the Wild Card Game, but he was 0 for 4 with three strikeouts in a loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in what was another early playoff exit. In 2020, his production continued to fall off a cliff as he hit just 2 homers and drove in 10 runs in 30 games, taking part in exactly half of his team's contests in the pandemic-shortened season. His OPS+ was even lower, at 79, but he showed a bit of punch in the postseason, hitting more homers in Oakland's 7 games than he had in the entire regular season - 3 to 2. He also scored 3 runs and drove in 6, showing that he could still do some damage even if there was concern that he was no longer productive enough to justify significant playing time.

On February 6, 2021, he was sent in a five-player trade to the Texas Rangers, the team he had always loved to victimize, in return primarily for SS Elvis Andrus, another former star who had lost his starting job because of falling production. The two teams also traded young catchers, with Jonah Heim accompanying Khris and Aramis Garcia coming to Oakland, while the A's also threw in P Dane Acker to complete the package.

Notable Achievements[edit]

  • AL Home Runs Leader (2018)
  • 20-Home Run Seasons: 6 (2014-2019)
  • 30-Home Run Seasons: 3 (2016-2018)
  • 40-Home Run Seasons: 3 (2016-2018)
  • 100 RBI Seasons: 3 (2016-2018)

Further Reading[edit]

  • Jane Lee: "HR king Khrush bats .247 for 4th straight year: Slugger becomes first qualified batter to finish with same average in 4 consecutive seasons", mlb.com, September 30, 2018. [1]
  • Jorge L. Ortiz: "Khris Davis finds a groove with A's, and can't stop crushing home runs", USA Today Sports, August 28, 2016. [2]

Related Sites[edit]

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