The Rays are showing interest in free-agent corner infielder Matt Davidson as a potential two-way player, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets.
To this point, the 27-year-old Davidson has mostly made a name for himself on the offensive end. He was a former top-100 prospect who combined for 46 home runs with the White Sox from 2017-18, during which he batted a so-so .224/.291/.345 (94 wRC+) in 939 plate appearances. He’s coming off the better of those two years, though, as he walked a career-high 10.5 percent of the time (up from 4.3 in 2017) and posted a 104 wRC+ across 496 PAs. More interestingly, Davidson was somewhat of a late-season factor out of Chicago’s bullpen, as he tossed 3 1/3 innings of one-hit ball in three appearances from June through August.
Since the 2018 campaign ended, Davidson has worked to become more of a legitimate option on the mound, and the White Sox reportedly liked what they saw out of the right-hander’s 92 mph fastball. Still, rather than pay Davidson a projected $2.4MM via arbitration in 2019, Chicago decided to non-tender him in November.
Now, if he joins the Rays, it’s likely Davidson’s main purpose would be to augment the club’s corner infield. It appears Tampa Bay is in OK shape at third base, where Matt Duffy turned in a fine season in 2018, but it may not be as set at first. Since last season ended, the Rays have non-tendered 30-HR hitter C.J. Cron, who’s now a Twin, leaving Tampa Bay with Ji-Man Choi as its projected starter across the diamond from Duffy. The left-handed Choi logged tremendous production last year, but his success came over just 221 PAs, and he was borderline unplayable against southpaw pitchers. The righty-swinging Davidson destroyed lefties, though, meaning he and Choi could form a platoon at first.
On the mound, Davidson may further help the low-budget Rays innovate after they used the opener to encouraging results last season. Plus, as Rosenthal notes, he’d give the Rays another two-way player to join young first baseman/pitcher Brendan McKay, whom the franchise drafted fourth overall in 2017 and who ranks as MLB.com’s 24th-best prospect.
Why not? He is relatively cheap and if he could continue his mound success that would provide great value to the Rays.
The Rays’ new opener haha
Laugh, but you’re probably on to something.
one thing cool for any team in the nl would be to have an opener that can give an inning or 2 and then slide into a defensive position
How would that work? A position player would then come out of the game after an inning or two, right?
Maybe better suited for double switch? I remember a few instances of pitchers going to a position and returning to the mound last season was it Romo?
Would be a good pickup, I just hope this isn’t the only bat they intend on getting for that RH DH role
I knew one team would try out using as many 2-way guys as possible. The Rays should get Anthony Gose too, as a PR/CF/RP.
Too late. The Indians already grabbed Gose.
Trades!!
That ball is hit to right field, he is late.
That ball is on the outside part of the plate, you have never played baseball.
That’s what you’re supposed to do with a pitch on the outer corner, not hit a 3 hopper to short while trying to pull it.
I like it I like it. I want to see him pitch again
I like what Rays are doing. I see Rays besting Stankess in wins in ’19.
Agreed.
Rays have a top 5 manager. Yankees very probably have the worst. That negates the talent differential. Rays excel at situational baseball.
That’s funny. Did it negate the talent last year?
rays had 90 wins without that payroll
I promise I’m about as far from being a Yankee fan as it gets… but regrettably, I’d quickly bet on NY winning more games than TB this season.
I agree, the stars really aligned for the Rays last year. I can’t see a repeat
If Pham is a 1.000+ OPS guy going forward, then yeah they’ll be there.
That’s a big IF though…
can’t see it but teams like the a’s amd rays find a way.
This also will give them a year or two to see if they can create a system to accommodate a 2 way player. When to rest when to workout in order to maximize production at both. Rather experiment on a league average player rather than a top prospect.
Davidson being a legitimate two way player is a pipe dream. there are guys who have spent their whole lives pitching that never get to the majors. just cause he can throw 92 doesnt mean he’s a viable pitching candidate. How did that work out for Betancourt? How bout we try Rámon Laureno as a pitcher? This is pure absurdity.
Matt Chapman regularly begs Oakland to let him pitch, he throws 97 with movement. They refuse and correctly so, because TJ looms large with anyone who pitches in MLB, better to have an all-universe defensive 3B who might be an elite hitter too.
But with versatility being all the rage, how can you not see this coming?
can u throw 92? dont judge without facts
Over the past 2 years, Davidson has struck out 33 % of his plate appearances, 38% of the times he didn’t walk. The Rays would be dumb to give up their primary offensive modus operandi, contact, just for some modicum of power. Contact worked for the Rays last year, as it did for the Red Sox…..returning to the days of Logan Morrison wouldn’t be a good idea.
Contact is crucial in the AL East, where everywhere (except in Tampa, actually), you can roll the ball through the infield for a hit; and the Rays aren’t THAT good in that area, it’s just that they’re not hideous.
As for the small sample size on the mound, D-Rob and Johnny Field had nice pitching numbers over 3-5 innings too…….
Again, ask yourself: if the White Sox, who have GOBS of money, didn’t think the guy was worth 3M, why should anyone else? Oh ya, and a “92 MPH fastball”? Oh ya, that’ll work in the AL East……….
It’s not returning to the days of Logan Morrison. It’s finding a player that can platoon with Choi that also has the possibility to pitch. Did the White Sox not feel he was worth 3M or did they want to go in a different direction? I think after what they did I’ll trust the Rays front office on this one.
“Did the White Sox not feel he was worth 3M or did they want to go in a different direction?“
Both
6 one way 1/2 dozen the other. No one really knows if he can pitch when he only has 3 relief innings. I believe Daniel Robertson has the same amount and is not an option at pitcher. Davidson is not a top choice to be very good pitcher at all. if his RH bat is good against LH pitchers maybe he is worth it, but his strikeout numbers are very alarming. Is he the best choice for reasonable money that’s left out there?
Inexpensive power. The whole point of “moneyball” was to find value. Look around the league, now. Group think is back. All the GMs and FOs are valuing and devaluing the same things. Now, the big, burly power hitters have actually become the bargains.
He’ll be great if they play Kansas City this year. Outside of that, good luck.
Open the game, then go over to third for the remainder? You’d have to probably have the second pitcher start the game defensively at third, unless you want to burn a roster spot in the process (which you easily could)
Except putting the starting pitcher in the field would cost them the DH for the rest of the game….
3 1/3 innings of one hit ball, clearly HOF numbers.
Adam Dunn 2.0, at a cheaper price. Though most of the hrs came within the first two weeks of 2018.
whats ur MLB numbers?
In those 2 weeks it seemed like most of those came against the Royals
Don’t understand why the Padres haven’t given him a look for their need at third. He’d be a good upgrade defensively over the mix they used last year and especially over Myers and he would fit nicely in the 5 or 6 hole in their lineup.
Padre baseball wasn’t appointment tv for me last year, so I’m not sure what they had going on at third, but if Davidson would be an upgrade defensively, I feel horrible about what you fans had to witness last year. I’m truly sorry.
I could see the Rays using Davidson as the last guy on the roster who saves the Rays from burning their bullpen in games they fall five or more runs behind in. In other games he’d be a late inning ph bat against a lefty reliever or he’d start some games at a corner against certain left handed pitchers. This way the Rays could stack their bullpen with one inning specialists without worrying about burning through them in lopsided games, keeping them fresh for use in the next day.
Right handed DH/corner infielder, you say? Any way they’d send the Mets a case of baseballs for Todd Frazier?
The Rays Front Office is one of the smartest and successful baseball executives these last few years and should be proud of their work. However, they may be going to that “I’m also a lil lucky well” too often for my taste, I believe they made a mistake not going another year with CJ Cron now in Minnesota, He will make us pay for this.. They have no respect for the big bat hitters. Matt Davidson is cheap and very diverse, but will not offer much ” feared Power-RBI guy” with difficult lefties pitching.
Mat Davidson is a very nice guy with power, but his strikeout ratio and OBP is terrible.
Disgusting reference and comparison. We don’t
need people with foul mouths.
The main reason for the Rays’ success last year was their offensive approach. The heralded (ad nauseum) “opener” is fairly innocuous, and may, as guys who actually PITCHED (Smoltz, Hershiser noted) , amount to absolutely nothing ,besides its obvious payroll implications.
Dropping Davidson and his K-rate in the middle of the lineup will probably decrease that offense. With their infield depth (no, it’s not a “glut”; it’s a fairly decent collection of “meh”), and given that Matt Duffy is made of glass, they’re probably better served by DH-ing Duffy and moving their other pieces around.
They’re never going to out-offense the Sox or Spanks…..they should emphasize pitching and defense. Putting Kluber (they have the prospects) on that staff puts them into the hunt. Otherwise, that 90 win season was likely more mirage than reality, and figures to drop. perhaps precipitously.
They also have Tanner Dodson—another two-way player.