Exslugger Davis is back
Khris Davis, the former Oakland slugger traded away in the offseason, has rejoined the A’s on a minorleague deal, the team announced Wednesday.
Davis was assigned to the Arizona Complex League. A’s manager Bob Melvin, though, indicated the plan is for Davis to join TripleA Las Vegas eventually after he works into game shape.
Davis, 33, last played June 5 for the Rangers, who released him later that month. The A’s traded Davis to Texas in February in the deal that brought shortstop Elvis Andrus to Oakland.
“We love having him back in the organization,” Melvin said Wednesday morning. “It’s giving an opportunity for him to get back to where he was in the past and he hasn’t had the opportunity here recently. So we’ll see what happens in TripleA. Obviously we wish him the best, we hope he gets off to a good start and plays his way here.”
Davis played five seasons with the A’s and led the majors in home runs (133) over a threeyear span from 201618. He finished eighth in AL MVP voting in 2018, when he led baseball with 48 homers. He hit just 23 home runs in 133 games in 2019, though — also missing time following a
collision with the wall in Pittsburgh — and lost his everyday role during the short 2020 season.
The A’s signed Davis to a twoyear, $33.5 million extension in 2019. He appeared in 30 games in 2020, hitting .200 with two home runs. Oakland sent Davis and catcher Jonah Heim to Texas for Andrus, catcher Aramis Garcia and cash shortly before spring training this year. Davis began the season on IL and hit .157 with two homers in 61 plate appearances for Texas after he returned.
“At the beginning it probably had a little something to do with his injury and then it just kind of snowballed into something that he had a tough time getting out of,” Melvin said. “You’re used to hitting .247 and hitting 40something home runs every year, when it doesn’t go that way sometimes it’s hard on you. So I think confidence probably had a lot to do with that. And Las Vegas is a pretty good place to get the ball in the air and hit some home runs.
“So I don’t put anything past him. … We had to do something a little bit differently here and then with the trade, he’s in a new place, he didn’t get off to a good start there. But it’s not like he’s 40 years old.”
Melvin said he has talked with Davis “a few times in the last month or so” and Davis has been hitting at home. Melvin said Davis is in Arizona close to the A’s complex and the goal is for the designated hitter and outfielder to build up there to be able to play consistently at Las Vegas.
2022 schedule: The A’s will open the 2022 season with a sevengame homestand against the Angels and Tigers, with Opening Day set for March 31, per the schedule Major League Baseball released Wednesday. With the AL West and NL East matched up in interleague play, the A’s will play home series against the Mets, Braves and Marlins and road series with the Phillies, Nationals and Braves. The A’s and Giants will play each other in four games, April 2627 at Oracle Park and Aug. 67 at the Coliseum.