It hasn’t all been smooth sailing this season for Rookie Davis, but the right-hander seems to have found his sea legs with Pensacola.
Davis pitched five shutout innings and faced one batter above the minimum in the Wahoos’ 3-0 victory Thursday. He allowed four hits, all singles, and struck out four with no walks.
“I feel like I’m just now getting comfortable,” Davis said. “I’ve had a long year with tedious injuries, nagging injuries, and it’s been frustrating for me.”
Davis missed the end of spring training with a hip flexor injury but quickly became Pensacola’s most consistent right-handed starter, carrying a sub-1.00 ERA through his first five starts. He landed on the disabled list in May with a right groin strain after registering his fourth win, which led Reds minor league pitchers at the time. But in his return, Davis managed only one quality start in his next seven outings, culminating in an early exit on July 5 when he was tagged for seven runs in two innings.
“Sometimes an outing like [that] where you’re in and out quick and then you have five days, it’s kind of a nice break for you,” Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said. “Since then he’s thrown exceptionally well and his velocity is up.”
Davis has been able to throw a cut fastball and curveball for strikes, if not for strike three. Both injuries affected his ability to push off his right leg, rotate and follow through, which were points of emphasis during his breakout 2015 season in the Yankees organization. As a result, his mid-90s fastball lost some velocity and became less of a swing-and-miss pitch.
“The velocity that we saw last year before the trade was obviously higher than what he’s shown here,” Kelly said. “A lot of that has to do with that lower half.”
Davis carried a strikeout rate of 23.5 percent between two levels last season, including a mark of 16.7 percent in six games for New York’s Double-A affiliate. It has backed up further to 13.5 percent, but Davis has averaged a strikeout per inning across his last three starts while topping out at 93 mph. In between two shutout bids at home, Davis struck out a season-high nine batters on July 16 in Jacksonville.
“I worked with [pitching coach] Danny [Darwin] on trying to stay on that back side and ride the slope,” Davis said. “I’ve been able to condition a lot harder, I’ve been able to lift a lot harder. Now I feel confident in my lower half.”
Despite an efficient start in which Davis threw 57 pitches and 44 for strikes without a single three-ball count, Kelly pulled his starter as a precautionary measure. A deflected single in the fourth inning hit Davis in his left thumb joint and he took his time throwing to first after snaring a line drive in the fifth. He would have batted first in the home half but could not grip a bat.
Davis owns a share of the Southern League lead with a 1.12 WHIP while ranking among the top five starting pitchers with a 2.68 ERA and .235 opposing average. With his strikeout rate bouncing back, the bullpen solidifying behind him and a playoff berth already locked up, Pensacola is poised to make another run at first place in the Southern League South Division.