Chris Davis, as you likely know, had a very bad start to this season. He didn’t get a hit until April 13th, which, combined with a five-game hitless stretch to end 2018, led him to set an unfortunate MLB record for the most hitless at-bats in a row (54).
It’s been a month and a half since that streak ended, and Davis currently is on the IL with a hip injury. He’ll return soon, though, and to be honest, he hasn’t been that bad following the streak.
At least compared to the rest of the Orioles.
His wRC+, from April 13th through May 24th (the date of his last appearance) was a near-league average 93. On a team with only two qualified hitters even at league average, that’s serviceable, even if it does come at first base, a position traditionally manned by one of a team’s stronger hitters.
Of course, it was still a terrible decision by the Orioles to give him his current contract, which pays him over $20M annually and runs through 2022.
And even with the streak behind him, there’s always the threat of a new streak beginning. It isn’t as though Davis was magically cured of his ailments by simply registering a hit in a scorebook.
But as of today, Davis is on pace for -1.8 WAR*, a 1.3-win improvement from his 2018 contributions, and actually percentage points better than Albert Pujols’ 2017.
Baseball can be a brutal game.
*the FanGraphs version
