Make Or Break Time For Hank The Tank

1-24-2025 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X

Following a season where Paul Skenes took the league by storm en route to winning Rookie of the Year honors and cementing himself as the correct first overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, it is easy to overlook the Pirates prior 1-1 pick in Henry Davis, especially as he has struggled with both injuries and offensive production in trying to break through with the big league club. 

A surprising first overall pick in the 2021 draft, selecting Davis allowed Ben Cherington and company to pull an under-slot signing at the top in order to save money for prep picks Lonnie White Jr., Anthony Solometo and Bubba Chandler in the later rounds.

Injuries plagued Davis in his ascent to the majors as he compiled just 421 at-bats over two years before making his MLB debut in June 2023, dealing with wrist issues suffered from multiple hit by pitch incidents in that stretch.

Unfortunately, when he finally made it to the show, he struggled both at the dish and in the field.

At the time, the Pirates had Austin Hedges as their primary catcher, a serviceable backup in Jason Delay and a surging prospect in Endy Rodriguez. The crowded crew coupled with Davis’s shortcomings behind the plate led to an alternative solution as they elected to slot him in right field, a position he had only played 15 times previously in the minor leagues – and it showed.

The Pirates scored six in the bottom of the third.

The Braves answered with four runs in the top of the fourth. They were helped by this Henry Davis error.

New ballgame.

6-4, Pirates pic.twitter.com/7SaRmLCEhu

— Justin Toscano (@JustinCToscano) August 8, 2023

Davis committed 4 errors in right field over 417 innings played in 2023 before the team finally appeared to pull the plug on the Jason Kendall Experience 2.0. 

Heading into 2024 with Endy on the shelf for the season after undergoing UCL surgery, Davis appeared to be the shoe-in for starting catcher. 

He helped make his case with a strong showing in Spring Training, clubbing 4 home runs over 42 at-bats while slashing .310/.400/.667 in that stretch.

However, that success didn’t translate into the regular season as Davis batted just .162, struck out at a 35% clip with just 3 extra base hits (all doubles) over his first 83 plate appearances before being optioned to the minors on May 3rd.

Despite a paltry .191 batting average and .590 OPS over 329 MLB at-bats, Davis has shoved consistently throughout the minors and slashed .307/.401/.555 in 254 plate appearances with the Indianapolis Indians in 2024 following that demotion.

He has been stymied by injuries, learning new position and trying to find his role as a leader on a still evolving team but the grit is there and, given ample reps, there’s reason to think he will figure things out.

For starters, it’s clear that he has been dealing with injuries over the past few seasons and tries to battle through them. He can be a bit stubborn in the box, leading to an exorbitant amount of HBPs (44 over his first 1,145 professional plate appearances) and resulting in needless IL stints.

With Joey Bart, Endy and Delay in the fold, he won’t have as much pressure to stay on the field – especially when his performance clearly dips. 

Also, he has to focus on staying more productive with the bat and not get hung up on what number is next to his name on the lineup card. 

We say this quite a bit at this site but if he can hit, the team will find somewhere to play him. If it’s behind the dish, in the outfield, on the dirt or just at DH, if you can provide value to this club, they’ll find you a spot. 

Finally – and this is a bit of a scapegoat – he won’t have to deal with Andy Haines as his hitting coach with the Pirates anymore. Will this make the difference if/when Davis returns to the big league club? Are fans right in thinking that Haines was actively hampering the development of young hitters on this squad?

We’ll just have to wait and see.