Going Deep with Chris Davis

I will be honest, PEDs took the joy of the home run away from me. I simply can't enjoy them the way I used to and I certainly have trouble writing anything historically about baseball homers.

Nevertheless, I have enjoyed watching the power of guys like Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Miguel Cabrera, Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, Prince Fielder, Adrian Beltre, and I wake up each day hoping they haven't sold me out.

Add Chris Davis to the list.

2013 Baseball's Leading HR Hitters

	HR	G	AB	HR%	HR/FB	K	K%
Chris Davis (BAL)	51	149	542	9.4%	30.7%	184	29.4%
Miguel Cabrera (DET)	44	139	520	8.5%	27.3%	89	14.5%
Edwin Encarnacion (TOR)	36	142	530	6.8%	17.5%	62	10.0%
Mark Trumbo (LAA)	34	149	585	5.8%	23.8%	167	26.2%
Pedro Alvarez (PIT)	33	141	518	6.4%	27.3%	177	31.1%
Paul Goldschmidt (ARI)	33	148	554	6.0%	22.6%	134	20.4%
Alfonso Soriano (NYY)	32	141	551	5.8%	17.9%	143	24.4%
Adam Dunn (CWS)	32	142	504	6.3%	23.2%	180	30.9%
Adam Jones (BAL)	31	150	611	5.1%	19.3%	121	18.8%
Jay Bruce (CIN)	30	150	587	5.1%	17.8%	175	26.8%

Created by BaseballAnalytics.org on 9/18/2013

I like watching Davis with his Dave Kingman swing power the ball high and deep into the stands. As I wrote about on Billy-Ball.com, last night, Davis broke the Orioles franchise record by hitting his 51st homer of the season, breaking the record of 50 held by Brady Anderson set in 1996.

Here's where Davis' 51 homers have landed

Going Deep on Davis

• The 27-year old, left-hand hitting Davis has hit 13 homers against lefties, 38 against righties.
• 27 homers have been hit at Camden Yards (tying Frank Robinson's 1966 home club record but the most at Camden Yards), 24 on the road
• He hit 37 before the break and 14 since the All-Star Game.
• He opened the season homering in the first four games, a feat only done by Willie Mays (1971), Mark McGwire (1998) and Nelson Cruz (2011).
• Davis has hit 38 homers from the #5 slot in the batting order, the most in baseball; Jay Bruce is next with 25.
• He's hit 34 in Orioles wins and 17 in O's losses.
• He's had 48 homers while playing first; three as a DH.
• 17 homers have been hit leading off an inning.
• 13 homers have been hit on the first pitch of an at bat. He's hit two on 0-2 counts, eight on full-counts and one on a 3-0 count.
• 22 homers have been hit with no out, 17 with one out, and 12 with two outs.
• He's had 22 homers with men on base, and 29 solo shots.
• He hit 12 homers in June, 10 in May, nine each in April and August, seven in July, and so far, four in September.
• 18 have been hit against fastballs, 10 against sliders, nine against change-ups, five each against curves and sinkers, two against cutters, and one each off splitters and knuckleballs.
• 23 of Davis’s homers have either tied the game or given the Orioles the lead.
• He's had three games with two homers.
• He's hit 20 homers in the first three innings, 17 in innings 4-6, and 14 in innings 7-9. He has none in extra innings.

I just hope...

I just hope that Chris Davis is clean, and stays clean.

Once an Outsider, Chris Davis now Crushing Outside Pitches

Chris Davis crushed his 50th home run of the 2013 season in fitting fashion last night, depositing Steve Delabar's 88 MPH fastball on the outside corner into the left-center field seats at the Rogers Centre. That shot, which moved Davis past Frank Robinson (1966) and into a tie with Brady Anderson (1996) for the most single-season homers in Orioles history, is a prime example of why the 27-year-old has emerged as the game's pre-eminent power hitter. Once an outsider in Texas, Davis is now teeing off on pitches thrown to the outside corner.

While Davis might look like your stereotypical pull-happy slugger, he's the only hitter to launch double-digit homers to right (20), center (17) and left (13) field in 2013. He has accomplished that feat thanks in large part to his performance against pitches thrown to the outer third of the strike zone. Davis has belted 10 more homers versus pitches thrown away than his next closest competitor, Pedro Alvarez.

MLB HR leaders vs. pitches thrown away in 2013

Davis is also in a class all his own when it comes to overall slugging percentage versus pitches thrown away. He's slugging nearly double the major league average on outer-third pitches and more than 220 points ahead of runner-up Freddie Freeman.

MLB slugging percentage leaders vs. pitches thrown away in 2013

Davis is on pace to finish the year with 55 home runs, which would rank 19th all-time on the single-season list among the likes of Hack Wilson, Mickey Mantle, Ralph Kiner and Babe Ruth. That's pretty good company for Baltimore's throwback, all-fields masher.

Chris Davis - Good Home and Away

Tuesday night, in the Orioles 4-3 Paul Goldschmidt-powered loss to Arizona, Chris Davis hit his 44th homer of the season. 

And before, you comment that Camden Yards is a launching pad for a left-handed bat like Davis, the game was played in Arizona.

And, this was no fluke.

Look at the numbers

Overall, Davis is hitting .299 and slugging .682.

On the road, Davis is hitting .296 and slugging .677.

Not too shabby, huh?

Overall, Davis has 33 doubles to go along with his 44 homers, for 77 extra-base hits (no, he hasn't tripled this season).

Davis has 22 doubles to go along with his 21 homers giving him 43 extra-base hits on the road this season, the most in the majors. 

Davis has played 58 games at home and 60 on the road, yet despite playing 51% of his games on the road, he's come through with 56% of his extra-base hits.

Now, you can agree, "not too shabby."

Let's look at the field

Let's compare Davis' numbers to this season's best hitters

Top 10 Batters Overall (and Davis)

	G	PA	AVG	OBP	SLUG	OPS	HR	2B	3B
Miguel Cabrera (DET)	110	496	.362	.456	.683	1.139	37	22	1
Chris Johnson (ATL)	103	392	.337	.375	.481	.856	9	26	0
Yadier Molina (STL)	98	390	.330	.374	.479	.854	8	30	0
Mike Trout (LAA)	117	539	.329	.425	.574	.999	21	32	8
David Ortiz (BOS)	100	434	.329	.410	.584	.994	22	26	2
Michael Cuddyer (COL)	95	396	.327	.391	.544	.935	17	22	2
Adrian Beltre (TEX)	118	507	.322	.369	.534	.903	25	25	0
Joey Votto (CIN)	119	534	.320	.434	.506	.940	17	24	3
Allen Craig (STL)	114	482	.320	.371	.463	.835	11	26	2
Joe Mauer (MIN)	107	478	.314	.397	.456	.853	9	32	0
Chris Davis	118	492	.299	.374	.682	1.056	44	33	0

Created by BaseballAnalytics.org on 8/14/2013

Let's look at these same batters on the road and you'll see...

Top 10 Batters Overall - on the road (and Davis)

	G	PA	AVG	OBP	SLUG	OPS	HR	2B	3B
Miguel Cabrera	58	272	.342	.441	.701	1.142	24	11	0
Chris Johnson	53	203	.323	.360	.474	.834	6	11	0
Yadier Molina	53	217	.343	.392	.500	.892	5	16	0
David Ortiz	50	214	.350	.439	.645	1.084	15	7	1
Michael Cuddyer	50	205	.301	.361	.484	.845	7	11	1
Adrian Beltre	61	270	.320	.370	.536	.906	13	15	0
Joey Votto	61	276	.339	.457	.563	1.019	10	18	1
Allen Craig	60	262	.306	.355	.492	.847	10	13	1
Joe Mauer	53	241	.324	.411	.490	.901	6	17	0
Chris Davis	60	255	.296	.376	.677	1.054	21	22	0
Mike Trout	55	261	.341	.421	.580	1.001	8	20	5

Created by BaseballAnalytics.org on 8/14/2013

Good hitters are good hitters no matter where they play and Chris Davis deserves to be regarded as a very good hitter.