After Spending Year Injured, Austin Davis Returns With A Bang From IL
For many people, 2020 was a whirlwind of a year that we want to forget, and that goes for the Pittsburgh Pirates season as well. However, one move the Pirates made that may have gone unnoticed was a move aimed at strengthening the bullpen. They made a deal with the Philadelphia Phillies on August 26th, 2020, that brought Austin Davis to the Pittsburgh Pirates for cash and a player to be named later (which turned out to be Joel Cesar). Davis had struggled during his time in Philadelphia, posting a 5.04 ERA in 46 appearances, and ended up being DFA'd by the Phillies, leading to the trade. However, at the time, the Pirates had just one lefty in the bullpen, Sam Howard, and were trying to add another southpaw to the pen.
When he got to Pittsburgh, he ended up having to watch from the sidelines as he went on the 10-day injured list the next day. After working his way back, he was reinstated with the Pirates on September 11th, and ended up rewarding the Pirates for their confidence. He appeared in five games for the Pirates in 2020 and posted a 2.45 ERA over 3.2 innings of work. The time off seemed to help Davis, who had an opponent batting average of .091 in Pittsburgh, down more than 400 points from what he was sitting at in Philadelphia. He started 2021 on the Injured List but is back now and ready to contribute to the Pirates bullpen.
The Injury Big Strikes Again
After dealing with a late-season injury in 2020, Davis was ready to put his injury issues behind him, and compete for a bullpen spot. He was one of just three lefties on the Pirates 40-man roster this spring, and though he had a good shot at making the Big Leagues. However, once he reported with the other Pirates pitchers and catchers, he felt something wasn't right. He ended up suffering a left elbow sprain and was placed on the 60-day Injured list on February 24th. He would have to miss the first few months of the season, but his rehab actually began just a few weeks after the injury. On March 10th, he was throwing from 90 feet on flat ground and was progressing nicely.
On May 9th, the Pirates sent Davis on a rehab assignment in Low-A Bradenton as he worked his way up to being MLB ready. He appeared in two games for the Marauders and allowed just one earned run over three innings of work. If there was one thing that was certain, it was that Davis's strikeout pitch was working. He set down six batters in his three innings and had an opponent average of just .200 against him while walking one. He made the move to Triple-A Indianapolis nine days later and had similar success there. He appeared in five games this time for the Indians, going 5.1 scoreless innings of work. He kept up his strong strikeout abilities, setting down 10 batters, and didn't allow a single hit at Triple-A during his rehab.
Yesterday, Davis finally was able to come off the Injured List and begin his run in 2020. He was the third left-hander added to the bullpen, joining Chasen Shreve and Sam Howard, and offered the Pirates a nice mix of righties and lefties for Shelton to turn to. Shelton wasted no time getting Davis into game action, as his number was called in yesterday's 3-1 loss to the Miami Marlins. He relieved starting pitcher Chad Kuhl when the Pirates were behind and was tasked with keeping it a two-run game. He was facing the bottom half of the order, and although the ball was put in play three times, all of them were outs. He needed just seven pitches to get through his inning and forced two groundouts and a pop-out in his 2021 season debut.
Austin Davis Moving Forward
At 28-years-old, Austin Davis is still in the early stages of his career trying to prove himself. He appeared in just 46 games before coming to Pittsburgh, and has a total of 52 Major League games under his belt, equivalent to about one full season as a reliever. Davis has decent velocity on his fastball, at 93 miles per hour, but the star of his arsenal is really his breaking stuff. He uses the fastball early in counts with opposing hitters, but it has a high opponent batting average at .357. However, once he gets that fastball by him, he turns to a devastating curveball, that is hit at just a .143 clip. He used this to his advantage in his 2021 debut, turning more to the curveball earlier in counts to full hitters.
He didn't use anything aside from his fastball and his curveball in his debut but tended to use the curveball earlier in counts. The first pitch of the day he threw was a curveball, and it got Isan Diaz to ground out. He went with a different approach against Sandy Leon, going fastball heavy, with three of the four pitches being fastballs. He eventually got Leon to ground out for the second out of the inning. However, he came back with back-to-back curveballs to the final hitter of the inning and forced a pop-out to end things. His fastball was still sitting at its normal 93 miles per hour, but the biggest change was the drop in velocity with his curveball. It hit at 79 mph on the day and offered a sharp contrast from the upper-velocity fastball.
With the addition of Davis, the Pirates now have three quality lefties in their bullpen, to counterbalance six right-handers. This gives Derek Shelton a ton of options during games and can allow him to play with match-ups. Davis isn't just your typical lefty specialist, however, as he has success against both lefties and righties. In his largest body of work, he actually held righties (.243) to a lower opponent batting average than lefties (.293) in 2018, his largest body of Major League work. With the new three batter role in place, it is more important than ever for pitchers to be able to get everyone out. For Davis, this is just another opportunity for him to go out there and prove once and for all that he belongs in a Big League bullpen.
The Pittsburgh Pirates (23-35) are back in action tomorrow night when they welcome in the Los Angeles Dodgers (34-25) for a three-game series. JT Brubaker (4-4, 3.74) kicks off the series in his first start back from the Bereavement list as he takes on Walker Buehler (4-0, 2.82). You can watch the game live on AT&T Sportsnet, listen on 93.7 The Fan, or follow along with us on Twitter by following @Buccos_Cove.
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