Top prospect Davis showed up ready, thus his quick promotion
From the moment Henry Davis walked through the doors at Pirate City, the Pirates’ most recent firstround was ready.
That, as seen later, translated to games, with the catcher from Louisville going 3for 7 in two Florida Complex League games, clobbering twodoubles and a home run.
Davis’ stay in rookie ball didn’t last long, as the Pirates on Thursday promoted one of their top prospects at any position to high Class A Greensboro, bypassing low Class A Bradenton,Fla..
The move happened for a couple of reasons, general manager Ben Cherington explainedFriday.
First and foremost was Davis’ overall readiness. An admitted workaholic, Davis arrived in Bradenton in terrific shape, with little evidence that he hadn’t played a competitive game since May. That allowed Davis to hit the ground running and make a solidfirst impression.
“We weren’t surprised,” Cherington said. “I think we hadhoped that he would be in a position to get out and play games in a full-season [league]. He proved pretty quicklythat he was.”
The next question became where it made sense to play Davis. Before the Pirates drafted Davis, Endy Rodriguez
was considered their top catching prospect. Acquired from the Mets using one of the players the Pirates originally got from the Padres for Joe Musgrove, Rodriguez was ranked 17th on Pittsburgh’s most recent top 30, according to Baseball America.
Rodriguez has had a terrific season with Bradenton, hitting .279 with an .840 OPS in 73 games, but he’s also fairly raw. Meanwhile, Carter Bins — part of the Tyler Anderson trade — has found success at Class AA Altoona, hitting .294 with a .721 OPSin his first nine games.
So to keep everyone separated, it made sense to start Davis at high Class A. But there’smore.
Davis joins a team that includes the Pirates’ previous two first-round picks in Quinn Priester (2019) and Nick Gonzales (2020). Gonzales’ double-play partner, Liover Peguero, easily could become their shortstop of the future, and the Grasshoppers’ pitching staff is loaded with talent.
Four of the top 11 on Baseball America’s list are
Greensboro starting pitchers; in addition to Priester, the Grasshoppers feature right-handers Carmen Mlodzinski (8), Michael Burrows (10)and Tahnaj Thomas (11).
Apparently Davis made known his desire to work with those pitchers and for all of them to grow up together.
“That’s not the reason he’s there, but it was good to hear that he wants to be part of those relationships and recognizes that, ‘Hey, these are guys that I aspire to play with and would love to get a head start on getting to know,’” Cherington said.
Davis debuted Thursday and nearly homered in his first at-bat, the ball bouncing off the outfield wall and Davis trying to stretch a triple into an inside-the-park homer before he was thrown out at the plate.
After grounding into a force out in his second at-bat, Davis struck out and walked in his other two plate appearances in a 5-4 Greensboro victoryover Winston-Salem.
Hedid not play in a 4-1 win Friday night, a win in which Priester went seven shutout innings.
“We think it’s a level he can go to and compete,” Cherington said. “It’s a big jump. It’ll be challenging, but he’s certainly up for a challenge. We think it will be productive for him and us as we plan for offseasonand next year.”