At this point in the MLB season, it’s fair to say that Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis has quickly become
a household name.
Davis, 27, leads the majors with 45 home runs this season. After 122 games, his breakout season has been one for the
record books and has indeed been one that has captured all of baseball media by storm. While many fans have been
surprised to see “the leap” that Davis has made this year, his increase in power, a newfound patience at the plate and
superb ability to demolish the breaking ball has made him a force to be reckoned with.
In 2012, Davis had homered once in every 17 appearances at the plate. This season, however, Davis has improved that rate to
just about 11 plate appearances between each home run.
Much of his success at the plate has come from a general increase in his powerful swing.
This can be traced in the increase of his isolated power (“ISOP”), which is calculated by subtracting a hitter’s batting
average from his slugging percentage. This proves how successful he is at recording extra-base hits. In 2012, Davis had an
ISOP of .230.
This season, Davis has spiked that number all the way up to a whopping .376, which is nearly triple the average ISOP (.134)
in the MLB.
One statistic that measures a players hitting ability is his gross production average (“GPA”), which is judged similar to
batting average where anyone that scores around .300 is considered to be a star player. In 2012, Davis had a GPA calculated
at .271. This season, however, Davis has been phenomenal. His GPA is strong at .334 with room to continue improvement.
While he is only hitting .158 (10-63) with a .317 slugging percentage against fastballs thrown faster than 93 MPH this
season, the Orioles first baseman has been absolutely remarkable against breaking balls this season.
His favorite pitch has been the sinker and 20% of his hits have come off the pitch in 2013. Additionally, he is batting
.630 against sliders (MLB average: .318) and .486 against changeups (average: .320) when in play this season. 17% of his
swings against curveballs have become hits and he is batting .500 vs. the pitch (average: .321) when in play as well.
For Davis, it has not been pitch location but rather patience at the plate that has granted him his new success.
He swung at 78% of 237 pitches down/right in the zone (56% is average) in 2012. This season, he has also swung at an
identical 78% of the 229 pitches down/right in the zone.
Davis is averaging fewer pitches per plate appearance in 2013 (3.77) than he had in 2012 (4.13) and has proven an
increase in patience at the plate. Last season, Davis spent much time (64.6%) getting “behind” in the count (average: 50%)
and was forced to see less favorable pitches at the plate.
This season, however, he has found himself in a “hitters count” more often (21% vs. 13%) than he had last year. The eye that he
has displayed has allowed him the opportunity to see more hitter-friendly pitches, sending many of them out of the
ballpark and into the record books as the current 2013 MLB home run leader.
Davis may be one of the league’s leaders in strikeouts with 149 this season and K’s in 29% of plate appearances (average: 17%)
in 2013, but indeed even this mark is a 2% improvement from 2012. Fortunately, his aggressiveness has been able to outweigh
his tendency to strike out in 2013.
Most importantly for Davis, however, the Orioles first baseman is adding significant value to his team in the midst
of their run at an American League playoff spot. In 2012, Davis “created” an impressive 0.58 runs per game. This season,
Davis is nearly doubling that mark with an added 0.92 runs per game value in 2013 for his team.
If you haven’t heard of Davis yet, odds are you’ll be hearing more about him in the coming weeks as he continues his
stellar 2013 play.
NOTE: All statistics accurate as of 8/19/13
By Bryan Kalbrosky, AriBall.com
