Davis seeing nothing but green lights
After ‘ dream’ Series homer, veteran center fielder glad to be A’s leading man again
MESA, Ariz. — Rajai Davis hadn’t even gotten into the A’s clubhouse when the feeling hit him.
He broke into a few dance steps in the hallway between the video room, the dining room and the clubhouse proper. He then looked up, said, “Those are my steps. You can’t have them.”
So yes, Thursday was a good day to be Rajai Davis. He’s back with Oakland, where he played from 2008-10 and first became
an everyday player. He’s coming off a World Series with the Cleveland Indians, and at age 36 he feels like he’s coming home as the A’s center fielder and leadoff hitter.
He summed up his first day in Mesa in eight words: “New season. New team. New hope. High hopes.”
Davis added: “I got a chance to taste the World Series last year. I want to taste it again.”
It was Davis’ eighth-inning homer against Cubs’ closer Aroldis Chapman that tied Game 7 and made for one of the iconic moments of one of the best World Series in recent memory.
Talking about it with the media, Davis said, “You dream about it when you are little. (But) when you actually do it, you say, ‘is it really happening?’ I know I’m trotting around the bases, but ‘did I really do this’ runs through my mind. I was told that the crowd got the loudest it’s ever been. It was amazing.”
Manager Bob Melvin said he mentioned the homer to Davis, and his new center fielder gushed about it to him.
Melvin said Davis described it this way: There’s the best feeling in the world. and then there’s that (feeling) — which is like 10 times.”
The A’s are hoping that Davis will bring some of that World Series vibe with him into the A’s clubhouse. Oakland isn’t being counted on to do much. Cleveland wasn’t given much of a chance last year, either, and it came within one victory of winning it all.
“He’s excited about being here, and those are the types of guys we need here,” Melvin said. “He can make a big difference. He’s one of those guys who makes everybody better.”
Davis may be coming to a team with back-to-back last-place finishes in the American League West, but he is clear when he says, “I expect to win.”
“We’ve got a lot of talent,” he said. “And talent is no good if you don’t play as a team. We’ve got to get that through, that we’ve got to play as a team. We’ll be better. We’ll be in a good place at the end of the year.”
One throwing session doesn’t make a turnaround, but the A’s were greatly heartened by Jesse Hahn’s first bullpen session on Thursday.
Hahn, the No. 3 starter at this time last year, fell onto hard times, was injured, and bounced between Triple-A and the big leagues when he was healthy.
Most of the time, his trademark sinker didn’t sink. He got hit hard and his ERA virtually doubled to 6.02.
Thursday he wasn’t facing any hitters. But Hahn’s catcher, Stephen Vogt, suggested that the righthander’s sinker would have been a monster for any hitter having to face it.
“Last year, Jesse was kind of under the ball when he threw it,” Vogt said. “The ball would run, but it didn’t sink. The ball he was throwing today was really heavy, almost bowling ball-ish.”
A heavy sinker is especially difficult to hit, Vogt said, “because if you are off, even by a little bit, you aren’t going to hit the ball anywhere.”
Vogt pointed to Hahn’s signature game, a four-hit shutout of the Detroit Tigers in May 2015.
“He threw nothing but sinkers,” he said, “and they couldn’t touch him. When he’s healthy, and I think he is now, he’s anywhere from mid-rotation to top of the rotation.”
Matt Joyce made his first appearance in camp Thursday, one day after flying from New York to Phoenix with his wife Brittany, one-month old daughter Kensington and three dogs — a black Lab, a golden retriever and a White Maltese. “There was some stress, but I think the dogs were ready to get out of two feet of snow in Hartford (Conn.),” he said.
Melvin was impressed by the performances turned in Thursday by right-hander Jharel Cotton, who figures to be the No. 4 man in the rotation, and last year’s No. 1 pick A.J. Puk, a 6-foot-7 left-hander who will get a look before starting the season in the minor leagues.
Cesar Valdez was in camp for the first time Thursday. The nonroster pitcher missed a connection in Miami while flying from the Dominican Republic.
Still missing in A’s camp is former Giant closer Santiago Casilla. The club is hoping his visa issues in the Dominican will be worked out in time for him to be in camp late next week.