By Alex Woodward
Orioles FanFest has come and gone with an announced attendance of 8,000 fans at the Baltimore Convention Center. Numerous players and coaches spoke to fans and the media alike on Saturday but to me, the most jarring comments came from Chris Davis.
Davis is fresh off setting a new Major League record for the lowest batting average in a single season at .168. He said that he's slimmer and in better shape at this point of the offseason than he was at this time last year. He also talked about how personal struggles impacted his on field performance last season and how hopeful he is that the team's new focus on analytics can help him correct his swing.
That's all well and good but the quote of the day in my opinion was when he was asked about making adjustments to his approach.
Maybe he chose a bad way to word things but what I get out of that quote is that he hasn't tried to make the proper adjustments or changes to his swing, approach or batting stance in the past couple of years! His batting average has dipped in every season the past 3 years, he has 1 season of holding a batting average over .222 in the past 5 YEARS and his homerun totals have also dropped in each year since 2015. Why did it take so long for him to realize that something was wrong? Why didn't the Orioles put more pressure on him to make adjustments? Why did it take setting a new Major League record for the worst batting average EVER and the team finishing with a franchise worst 47-115 record before he admitted that a change needed to be made?
Wow. Jim Palmer did not hold back his thoughts on Chris Davis tonight #Orioles pic.twitter.com/spVKORHw90
— Tim Murray (@1TimMurray) May 24, 2018Chris Davis will be given more chances with the Orioles in 2019. There's a completely new front office, coaching staff and ownership in place and Davis will be given a fair chance to prove himself again to fresh eyes. Hopefully new hitting coach Don Long can get Davis back to his old form when people were calling him "Crush" and making memes about him:
Chris Davis picked it up a bit this week... here's @TheSportsColumn's Meme of the Week c/o Baltimore Orioles Memes: pic.twitter.com/mr3uZaZ2zU
— Jeff Kryglik (@KryglikWMAR) May 23, 2014Ah, the good ole days. When all the memes were about Davis in a positive light. In recent memory though, most of the memes have been more mean spirited.
The rebuild has begun, now it's time for Davis to make the proper adjustments to save his career. Maybe with a completely new coaching staff and a new approach to analytics, Davis can at least turn in a respectable season. I feel for the guy, he's been through the roughest years an athlete can possibly go through but the most frustrating part about all this is the fact that he didn't find it necessary to change things sooner. Time is running out Chris.