PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Thoughts that Henry Davis might go reinvent himself or learn a new position at AAA were put to rest on Tuesday afternoon by Pirates manager Derek Shelton.
“He will catch and he will probably DH because the at bats are the things that are the most important thing,” Shelton said. “It will be catching and DH-ing.”
There was talk outside of the organization of having him play some right field or potentially learning first base (with no highly rated prospect at that position), but Shelton said the focus is just on getting set at the plate, not learning a new spot.
“Offensively, there are some adjustments that have to be made,” Shelton said on Friday after the decision to send him down. “I think there are some adjustments that the major league game has showed him that need to be made.”
There is the potential for a log-jam at catcher. Veteran Yasmani Grandal is only a few games back from returning from a plantar fasciitis injury. In the meantime, they picked up former number two overall pick Joey Bart. He showed some early pop and is out of minor league options. Jason Delay was the backup last year and is scheduled to begin some rehabilitation soon and could be back before the All-Star Break. Even thinking beyond this season, Endy Rodriguez is out for the season but is expected to make a full recovery and was the team’s leading catcher at the end of the 2023 season.
It doesn’t seem that the Pirates are willing to think about other options right now for Davis. He transitioned to right field last year in an attempt to get his bat in the lineup. The issue currently is getting that bat to return to a position where it can be in a lineup.
The Pirates aren’t going to let anything distract their 2021 first-round pick from that right now.