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BP Annual Player Comments

Year		Comment
2018		Sure, why not? Ike Davis is a pitcher now! Five years removed from a 32-homer campaign in Queens, the former Sun Devil closer touched 92 from the left side in a six-game trial run in the Arizona League.
2016		Injuries have been part of the problem. Last year Davis missed 33 games in May and June with a strained left quadriceps, then saw his season end in August thanks to a torn left-hip labrum that required surgery. But even when healthy Davis has hit just .222/.328/.356 since his monster 2012. On the bright side, his pitching debut went well: He fired two scoreless innings, making him one of the A's most effective relievers and giving him bragging rights over his dad Ron on the ERA front.
2015		Davis escaped from New York in April, when the Pirates sprung him in exchange for two minor-league pitchers. He went on to have a season that advanced offensive metrics say equaled his 2012, but it still felt like a disappointment. While Davis upped his average by eschewing his dead-pull tendencies in favor of using center field more often, a career-best strikeout-to-walk rate boosted his numbers the most. (It also helps that Clint Hurdle micromanaged to the point that Davis faced righties in more than 90 percent of his plate appearances.) A first baseman who relies on walks for his offense is about as desirable as a computer with more viruses than programs. See Barton, Daric, a comp that probably seems a bit on-the-nose after the Pirates sent Davis to the A's and netted $250,000 in extra international slot money.
2014		What do you make of a career .927 OPS in September ... and .584 in May? What do you make of a dead-pull hitter spending months standing miles back from home plate ... and never adjusting when pitchers predictably started pitching him outside? What do you make of a guy who was sent to Triple-A hitting .161 ... and ended up third in the majors in second-half OBP? As in 2012, Davis authored a late-season surge, but the sequel was crazier than the original. Most players would kill for a 131 OPS+, but that was the spread between Davis' first- and second-half marks. The flesh is willing, but the spirit is often weak—going forward, maturity, age and coaching (or, alternately, a profligate trade partner) are the Mets’ best hopes for Davis.
2013		Davis's 2012 was reminiscent of those old Tony Batista seasons where the home runs make you perk up right before the on-base percentage lets you back down. Talk of Davis's nightlife habits surfaced simultaneously with trade rumors in September, but rebuilding teams don't get anywhere by trading young, cheap players at the nadir of their value. Unless there's a real problem in his behavior, he's a bounce-back candidate: He swings at the pitches that power hitters should swing at, takes his walks, hits the ball in the air, and has consistently shown plenty of pop, including posting the 18th-best isolated slugging in baseball last year.
2012		Following a promising rookie campaign in 2010, Davis seemed to blossoming into a star until May 10, when he collided with David Wright as the two converged on a pop fly. What seemed like a standard ankle injury turned into a mystery for the ages, as every time it seemed like it was healing, Davis would report pain once again, and it got to the point where even a high-risk microfracture procedure was considered. In the end, rest seems to have finally healed Davis, who by November had resumed full workouts and reported no issues. If he can return to form in 2012, and improve against left-handers, he's the position player the Mets' future could hinge upon the most.
2011		Davis was just 23 in his first major-league season, but that didn't stop him from topping his 90th-percentile PECOTA forecast. While he didn't have trouble hitting at Citi Field, you could see how much force it took for him to put the ball over the fences there. Davis had to crush the ball to get it out, but he was up to that task—the average distance on his homers was nearly 416 feet. Major-league home-run leader Jose Bautista averaged 403 feet on his homers. Much uncertainty still surrounds what Davis will look like as a finished product: he didn't hit lefties well in the minors but did with the Mets, and he strikes out often, which should prevent his batting average from maintaining much altitude. He does play excellent defense at first, and it's hard to deny his power potential. Adam LaRoche is often brought up as a comparable player, but considering Davis' patience and defense, it might be more accurate to forecast his future as the player people wanted Adam LaRoche to be.
2010		As bad a year as the Mets had, there were a handful of good stories down on the farm, and Davis was one of them. A first-round pick in 2008, Davis was selected for his power bat, but failed to hit a single home run in 215 at-bats during his pro debut, leading some to classify him as a bust. The doomsayers proved to be premature, as Davis slugged his way through both High- and Double-A to stake claim on the first-base job that has been cleared out by Carlos Delgado. His arrival in time for the 2011 season is a far more realistic expectation than 2010, as Davis does most of his damage against right-handers, giving him something to work on... but what a difference a year makes.
2009		Taken with the 18th pick of last June's draft as compensation for losing Tom Glavine, Ike is the son of former major league closer Ron Davis. Junior pitched too while at Arizona State, pumping heat in the mid-90s, but it was his bat which got him a $1.575 million signing bonus after producing 16 homers and a .742 slugging percentage for the Sun Devils last year. While college first basemen are generally the safest draft commodities, Davis struggled in his pro debut.

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PITCHf/x Pitcher Profile

A Collaboration between BrooksBaseball.net and Baseball Prospectus - Pitch classifications provided by Pitch Info LLC

Although he has not thrown an MLB pitch in 2024, Ike Davis threw 26 pitches that were tracked by the PITCHf/x system in 2015, including pitches thrown in . In 2015, he relied primarily on his Sinker (87mph) and Fourseam Fastball (86mph), also mixing in a Slider (80mph).