When the Major League Baseball season began, I was a little skeptical of Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis. Davis was fresh off of a 2012 campaign where he hit a career high 33 home runs and in an era where players are consistently testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs, you must proceed with caution when you’re beginning to heap praise onto a player. Davis has put my skepticism to bed as he is currently leading MLB in home runs with 44 and runs batted in with 112. Daivs is doing this as he is attempting to help the Orioles reach the postseason in consecutive years for the first time since 1996 and 1997.
Davis started his MLB career with the Texas Rangers, but he found himself as a man without a position as the Rangers lineup was loaded with sluggers. The Rangers were on their way to making their second consecutive World Series appearance in 2011 and thus they traded Davis along with starting pitcher Tommy Hunter to the Orioles for relief pitcher Koji Uehara to bolster their bullpen..
The Orioles were in the midst of building a competitive team and Davis would finally have the opportunity to be an everyday player.
Davis is making the most of his chance as he began the season with a home run in the first four games of the year. Most power hitters tend to hit home runs in bunches, but Davis has only had three multi-home run games this season as he has spread out his power. Davis has provided that pop in the lineup that provides protection to Oriole outfielders Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, and third baseman Manny Machado who tend to hit ahead of him. In a very short time Davis has put his name alongside great Oriole home run hitters such as Cal Ripken Jr., Brooks Robinson, Eddie Murray, and Frank Robinson. In 1996, Orioles outfielder Brady Anderson hit 50 home runs which is the team’s single-season record and Davis is well on his way to eclipsing that mark.
Davis has struck out 144 times on the season, but he is not the prototypical slugger as his .299 batting average leads the club. Davis knows that he cannot side step the steroid cloud that continues to hover over Major League Baseball, but he isn’t ready to run away from it as he has declared himself to be a “clean” player and he won’t shy away from random drug testing.
Davis is a logical American League MVP candidate as the Orioles are currently two games back of the Tampa Bay Rays for the final wild card spot in the AL. If Davis were to win the award, he would be the first Oriole since Ripken Jr., who was selected as AL MVP in 1991.
Orioles manager Buck Showalter knew that he got a steal when he acquired Davis as the Rangers drafted the slugger in 2006 which was also Showalter’s last year as the manager of the Rangers. Now the two are in Baltimore and they both have people near the Potomac once again thinking about Orioles baseball for all of the right reasons .
Source:Baseball-reference.com
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