Pirates hope Davis homer is step in the right direction

Henry Davis makes it clear that he doesn’t care about anything but winning, so the Pittsburgh Pirates catcher isn’t the type to seek solace in making hard contact when it’s a foul ball.

When Davis pulled a ball nearly 400 feet in the fifth inning Wednesday in St. Louis, it was clocked at an exit velocity of 109.2 mph but sailed into foul territory. That he ended up striking out and stranding a runner at third base bothered Davis, so he had to clear his mind before his next at-bat.

Davis was looking for a pitch in the strike zone that he could do damage against when he hammered Andrew Kittredge’s 2-1 slider for a 412-foot blast in the eighth inning of the 4-2 loss to the Cardinals. It was his first home run of the season, at least in the major leagues.

“I’m actually trying not to think about anything,” Davis said. “I’m just trying to help the team win whatever way I need to. Earlier in the game, I could have got the runner in from third. Little things like that turn the lineup over. Whatever it takes to help the team win. I’m thinking more on that end.”

That Davis didn’t homer until mid-June, in his 83rd at-bat, was symbolic of the type of season he’s having. That explains why Pirates manager Derek Shelton called it “very encouraging,” especially given that it came against a high-leverage reliever for the Cardinals with the Pirates trailing by three runs.

“Maybe the fact that that’s the first homer, now there’s a sigh of relief,” Shelton said. “The at-bat before he did a really good job. He took a really good swing and missed a homer by about 10 feet. Overall, very encouraging.”

Davis concentrated on his catching all offseason and had a strong spring training, winning the starting catcher job by default when Yasmani Grandal was placed on the injured list with plantar fasciitis.

While Davis fared better than expected behind the plate, he struggled with his bat, as evidenced by his slash line of .162/.280/.206 through May 1. With Grandal’s return and the emergence of Joey Bart as a backup, Davis was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis for an opportunity to play on an everyday basis and rediscover his power stroke.

The timing couldn’t have been better. Indy’s first series was at Louisville, where Davis starred in college before becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft. His younger brother, Morgan, is a pitcher for Louisville, so Davis drove down early so he could hit with him the three days before the start of the series.

“Pretty much just turned the fastball machine up as high as it could go – do something where I couldn’t think about anything,” Davis said. “If I’m thinking about anything in that moment, I’m not going to have success. It’s very similar to how the big league game is. People talk about how the speed of the game speeds up, but the second I did that without thinking about anything, it went back to what I’ve done my whole life, my whole career. And I know that works, so sticking with that and just building on that and trusting myself that it works is something that I’m going to take a lot of pride in moving forward.”

Davis found his groove at Indianapolis, slashing .296/.436/.642 with seven doubles, seven homers and 17 RBIs in 23 games. When Bart injured his left thumb, however, the Pirates opted to add Grant Koch from the taxi squad to give Davis more time to work on his hitting.

One thing Davis learned during his minor league stint was to clear his mind and stop dwelling on his shortcomings. That wasn’t easy for Davis, a perfectionist renowned for his work ethic. He realized that simplifying his approach was in his best interest, so he returned to his foundation as a hitter.

“Not necessarily regret, because you learn from everything, but what I did poorly my first stint in the big leagues was try and be perfect every day, trying to have the perfect swing or the perfect preparation or this, that or the other thing,” Davis said. “I’m getting back to (where) I’m looking for a pitch over the heart of the plate and I want to be on time. That’s what I thought about my whole life. Obviously, I take pride in preparation and I want to be as prepared as I can be in the box but at the same time, just trusting in my ability, trusting in what I do before the game and just let it happen.”

The Pirates recalled Davis on June 4, and he doubled against the Los Angeles Dodgers in his first game back in the majors. But Davis didn’t get another hit until Wednesday’s homer.

Now, he’s hoping that it’s a step in the right direction.

“It’s such a complicated game, right?” Davis said. “Things don’t go well and you try and go in the rearview mirror and find out what’s worked in the past or you just try to be in the present. I think that’s what really helps. Just trying to help the team win, keep things simple. At times, probably letting how poorly things had gone maybe the day before — trying to get two hits in one at-bat or whatever it may be — but keep it as simple as possible.

“I just never really care about anything I do as long as I’m helping the team win. I’m not worrying about whatever may be, just whatever I need to do in that at-bat to get the job done.”