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Khris Davis

Khris Davis Signs With Atlantic League’s Kentucky Wild Health Genomes

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A former MLB home run champ is headed to independent ball. Designated hitter/left fielder Khris Davis has signed with the Kentucky Wild Health Genomes of the Atlantic League, according to a team announcement.

Davis will use the independent ball opportunity as a hopeful springboard back to the affiliated ranks. The 34-year-old spent a bit of time in the Mexican League earlier in the year but struggled over 12 games with the Diablos Rojos. After a couple months away, Davis has an opportunity to rebuild his stock in the Atlantic League.

Over a nine-year MLB career, Davis has hit 221 home runs and carries a .242/.314/.491 slash line. He topped 40 home runs each season from 2016-18, including a league-best 48 longballs with the A’s in 2018. Davis was one of the game’s middle-of-the-order sluggers through that year, but he owns a .216/.291/.376 slash going back to the start of the 2019 campaign.

That includes a .206/.272/.363 mark through 114 plate appearances last season. Davis opened the year with the Rangers but was released in June. Two months later, he signed a minor league deal with the A’s and returned to Oakland as a September call-up. He hit free agency at the end of the year after appearing in 20 games in green and gold.

Khris Davis Intends To Play This Season

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Khris Davis is looking to play in the majors this year and currently trying to find a team to join, per Robert Murray of FanSided. Murray relays that Davis is drawing interest from multiple clubs.

Davis had a tremendous run with the Brewers and Athletics from 2013 to 2018. Over those six seasons, he hit 193 home runs and slashed .248/.320/.519. He had a wRC+ of 107 or higher in each of those six campaigns and was only below 122 in one of them.

Unfortunately, multiple injuries took a toll on him in 2019, causing his production to fall into a nosedive that he hasn’t been able to pull out of. Hip, oblique and hand injuries brought him down to a line of .220/.293/.387 that year. He put up similar numbers in 2020 and 2021, leading to a .216/.291/.376 line over the 2019-2021 stretch, a wRC+ of 80.

Davis wasn’t graded as a strong defender even in his prime, but he’s taken the field less and less over the years. After playing left field at least 90 times each year from 2013 to 2017, he’s only taken the field in 18 total contests since that time. Without being able to contribute on the defensive side of things, he really needs to be able to hit in order to be valuable.

It’s been a few years since Davis has been useful with the bat, but he’s only 34 years old. While a contending team is unlikely to take a chance on him, perhaps a rebuilding club could give him some time at the plate and see if he can rediscover his prior form. If he succeeds, he could then be sent to a contender at the trade deadline.

Speculatively speaking, perhaps Davis and the A’s could have mutual interest in a reunion. Although Oakland traded Davis to the Rangers as part of the Elvis Andrus trade prior to last season, they re-signed him in August after the Rangers released him, giving him 53 plate appearances down the stretch. The club has been trying out a lot of younger players this year, but has occasionally used their designated hitter slots for veterans like Jed Lowrie or Stephen Vogt. With Vogt now on the shelf due to a grade 2 MCL sprain, perhaps someone like Davis could make sense for an elder statesman role.

Athletics Select Khris Davis

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Khris Davis is officially back in Oakland. The A’s announced Wednesday that they’ve selected his contract from Triple-A Las Vegas and recalled catcher Austin Allen as well, filling the two new spots on their expanded September roster.

Davis, 33, was traded from Oakland to Texas alongside catcher Jonah Heim and righty Dane Acker over the winter in a financially driven swap that brought veteran shortstop Elvis Andrus, catcher Aramis Garcia and cash back to the A’s. He lasted just 22 games and 61 plate appearances with the Rangers, however, as the struggles that plagued Davis with the 2019-20 A’s only worsened in Arlington. The Rangers released him on June 13.

The A’s brought Davis back to the organization on a minor league deal in early August, and he responded by absolutely decimating Triple-A pitching over a 16-game stretch. In 68 plate appearances with Vegas, Davis batted .333/.382/.921 with 10 home runs, three doubles and a pair of triples. He struck out just 13 times in that stretch (19.1 percent).

It’s obviously a small sample against inferior pitching in a wildly hitter-friendly setting, but Davis did everything the A’s could have hoped for (and then some) during his trial run back in Triple-A. That monstrous output in Vegas will earn him a look back in the big leagues, offering him an audition for any interested parties in the offseason, when he’ll be a free agent. If he’s back to his former self, Davis can provide the A’s a big power boost as they look to close a one-game deficit in the American League Wild Card standings and a five-game gap in the American League West.

The 27-year-old Allen has been up and down with the A’s a bit over the past two seasons since coming over in the trade that sent Jurickson Profar to the Padres. He’s had only six plate appearances this season but has enjoyed a highly productive season of his own in Triple-A, batting .321/.356/.592 (126 wRC+) with 20 long balls and 15 doubles on the season.

Athletics Sign Khris Davis

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It’s reunion season in Oakland. The A’s announced Wednesday that they’ve signed outfielder/designated hitter Khris Davis to a minor league contract and assigned him to their affiliate in the Arizona Complex League.

Davis, of course, was a mainstay in the Athletics’ lineup from 2016-20, logging a trio of 40-homer campaigns as the team’s primary designated hitter along the way. Davis rather remarkably posted a .247 batting average in four consecutive seasons with the A’s, complementing that with healthy walk rates and top-of-the-scale power. Davis led Major League Baseball in home runs from 2016-18. Add in the 2019 season, and only Nelson Cruz and Nolan Arenado surpassed him in total long balls.

The slugger had long made clear that he hoped to remain in Oakland, and the A’s took the rather rare (for them) step of extending Davis and buying out multiple free-agent seasons. Unfortunately, the two-year, $33MM contract proved to be a misstep, as Davis’ bat fell off not long after signing the deal. He hit just .200/.303/.329 through 99 plate appearances in 2020, the first season of that extension, and Oakland flipped him to the Rangers in an offseason deal that brought Elvis Andrus to the A’s and carried payroll benefits for both clubs. Things didn’t go well for “Khrush” in Texas, either, as he slashed just .157/.262/.333 in 61 plate appearances before being designated for assignment and released.

Of course, any mention of Davis’ decline needs to take his health — or lack thereof — into account. Davis played through hip, oblique and hand injuries in 2019 as his downturn at the plate began, and while he didn’t make excuses for his dwindling power numbers, he eventually acknowledged that his  injuries had impacted his swing when asked. Davis explained that he’d begun to choke up a bit to compensate for a lack of strength in his hand, which had conversely impacted his power game. Whether Davis was fully healthy in either of the two subsequent seasons can’t be certain, but he’s yet to regain the prodigious power or remarkable consistency at the plate that he displayed in his peak form.

It might be a long shot to see the now-33-year-old slugger return to those heights, at least in 2021, but the A’s will take a no-risk look and try to get one of their former lineup cornerstones back on track in the minor league ranks. Their openness to doing so should come as no surprise; Oakland designated hitters have combined to bat just .217/.292/.380 this season. The A’s were linked to Cruz in trade rumblings last month, but the AL East-leading Rays made the best offer for the now-former Twins slugger and acquired him about a week prior to the July 30 trade deadline.

Rangers Release Khris Davis

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The Rangers announced they’ve placed Khris Davis on unconditional release waivers. This was the expected outcome after the club designated Davis for assignment on Tuesday.

Texas acquired the designated hitter/corner outfielder from the A’s over the winter. While they surely hoped he’d rebound from back-to-back down seasons at the plate, the primary motivation for the trade was financial. The Rangers sent Elvis Andrus, owed $14MM in each of 2021 and 2022, to Oakland in exchange for Davis’ expiring $16.75MM contract and a pair of prospects. (Texas is paying down $13.5MM of Andrus’ contract over the next two years). The deal allowed the Rangers to assume more money in 2021, when they didn’t expect to contend anyhow, to shave nearly $7MM off their 2022 books.

Ultimately, the Rangers didn’t give Davis much of a leash. He began the year on the injured list and received just 61 plate appearances- putting up a poor .157/.262/.333 slash line- before Texas cut bait. It’s the third consecutive year of well below-average hitting for Davis, who was one of the game’s top power bats during his 2016-18 peak in Oakland.

Technically, teams will have 48 hours to put in a claim for Davis. That’s a moot point, as he’ll assuredly pass through waivers unclaimed. Any team that claimed Davis would assume the remainder of his salary. No team will do that, leaving the Rangers on the hook for the money.

Once he clears the wire, Davis will be free to sign with any team. A signing club would then only owe him the league minimum salary for any time he spends on the major league roster, which would be subtracted from Texas’ outlay. Given his lack of defensive value and recent offensive woes, it’s possible he’ll have to settle for a minor league deal once he hits the open market.

Rangers Designate Khris Davis For Assignment

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The Rangers have designated DH/outfielder Khris Davis for assignment, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets.

A three-time 40-home run hitter, Davis joined the Rangers in the offseason in a trade with the Athletics, who acquired shortstop Elvis Andrus as their headlining piece. Neither player has performed well this season, however. Davis missed the first month-plus of the season with a left quad strain and has since batted .157/.262/.333 with a pair of home runs in 61 plate appearances. So far, it’s the third straight year in which Davis has posted subpar production at the plate.

Davis is making $16.7MM this season, the last of a two-year, $33.5MM contract. Considering Davis’ offensive issues and his lack of defensive value, he’s unlikely to appeal to any team in a trade over the next week.

To replace Davis, the Rangers recalled infielder/outfielder Eli White, whom they also acquired from the A’s in a past trade. White has hit a dismal .155/.214/.194 with zero home runs in 112 PA since he debuted last year.

Rangers Activate Khris Davis, Option Eli White

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The Rangers activated Khris Davis from the injured list today, the team announced. Eli White was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock to create the open roster spot.

A Grade 2 left quad strain has kept Davis from making his Rangers’ debut after hitting .213 through 13 spring games. The former A’s slugger, of course, was acquired via trade along with Jonah Heim and Dane Acker. The move allowed the Rangers to shift Isiah Kiner-Falefa to shortstop, and hopefully, inject some right-handed pop into the lineup. Davis’ power is obvious, but he’s had trouble accessing it in-game over the last couple of seasons. He posted a disappointing .217/.294/.378 in 632 plate appearances over the past two years. Davis will presumably see some playing time against lefties, providing a respite for Willie Calhoun or David Dahl.

The 27-year-old White also came to the Rangers from the A’s via a 2018 three-team trade that sent Jurickson Profar to Oakland. White hasn’t found much consistency at the plate in small samples at the big league level with Texas. He owns a .155/.214/.194 line across 112 plate appearances between this season and last. White’s demotion means that Adolis Garcia will truly be the every down back in centerfield, writes Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The 28-year-old has managed a revelatory .269/.317/.538 with seven home runs across 101 plate appearances, surprisingly taking the starting centerfield job by the horns. Leody Taveras and now White, meanwhile, have both been demoted.

Brock Holt To Make Rangers’ Opening Day Roster

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The Rangers have informed utilityman Brock Holt he’ll break camp with the team, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News was among those to report. He has been in camp as a non-roster invitee, so the club will need to officially select his contract to the 40-man roster. Holt had the ability to opt out of that deal if not added to the roster this week, Grant notes. Texas has an open 40-man spot after passing right-hander Joe Gatto through outright waivers yesterday.

Holt, 32, was a valuable utility piece for the Red Sox between 2013-19, even earning a trip to the All-Star game in 2015. He stumbled to a miserable .211/.283/.274 line between the Brewers and Nationals in 2020, though, forcing him to settle for a non-roster deal this winter. Between a productive few weeks in Spring Training and the Rangers’ uncertain third base situation (where Rougned Odor appears the favorite for playing time), Holt will get another opportunity in Arlington. By making the club, he’ll lock in a $1.75MM base salary.

Among the others who’ll be on the season-opening roster (via Grant and Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram): Dane Dunning, Taylor Hearn, Wes Benjamin and Jonah Heim. None of that group is particularly surprising. Hearn and Benjamin played important roles in last year’s bullpen, while Dunning and Heim were acquired in offseason trades. All four are already on Texas’ 40-man roster.

Fellow offseason acquisition Khris Davis won’t be ready for the start of the season. He suffered a Grade 2 strain of his left quadriceps and will be out three to four weeks, per Wilson. Presumably, he’ll start the year on the 10-day injured list.

Rangers, Athletics Swap Elvis Andrus, Khris Davis As Part Of Five-Player Deal

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In a rather stunning swap of veterans, prospects, and cash between divisional rivals, the Rangers are sending long-time shortstop Elvis Andrus, catching prospect Aramis Garcia, and $13.5MM in cash to the Athletics for outfielder/designated hitter Khris Davis, catcher Jonah Heim, and right-handed pitcher Dane Acker. In announcing the deal, the Rangers note that Andrus leaves as one of just five players to spend 12 seasons in Texas.

While the roster implications are significant for both teams, the financial aspect is no less fascinating. Andrus is owed $14MM in each of the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Per the original terms of the deal, Andrus also has a vesting option for $15MM in 2023 that, because of the trade, will now become a player option. Still, to make that player option vest, he’ll still need to either accrue 550 plate appearances in 2022 or 1,100 appearances combined in 2021 and 2022. Previously the plate appearance threshold would have triggered a mutual option instead of a player option.

Elvis AndrusAndrus has only reached that marker in one of the previous three seasons, so there’s at least a reasonable chance he reaches free agency after the 2022 season. If that proves to be the case, the A’s will have freed themselves from the $16.75MM owed to Davis, while essentially remaining on the hook for about $7.25MM in each of 2021 and 2022. Andrus is also getting an $800K assignment bonus, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter), though it’s unclear which side will be responsible for it.

In terms of the Rangers’ financial motivations, they take on more money up front for later payroll flexibility. Davis will be a free agent after the season, so instead of paying out $14MM in each of the next two seasons, they’ll either pay $30.50MM this season and be totally free the future payroll commitment, or perhaps at least lessen it if the money paid to Oakland is given in installments.

On the field, this ends Andrus’ 12-year run as the Rangers’ starting shortstop. The last remaining connection to their back-to-back pennant-winning teams in 2010 and 2011, the two-time All-Star leaves as the franchise’s all-time leader with 305 stolen bases, second all-time with 1,652 game played, and third all-time in both hits (1,743 hits) and runs (893 runs scored). Though he came to be seen as an albatross contract in recent years, Andrus more than earned his keep over the years, producing $205.8MM worth of value through 28.1 fWAR — a full $100MM over the $105.67MM of actual pay he has thus far banked.

Nevertheless, he was set to lose his starting shortstop job to Isiah Kiner-Falefa this season. Andrus admits to some hard-hardheadedness when it comes to changing his approach at the plate, which may have held him back in recent seasons. He will now have the opportunity to re-boot his career in Marcus Semien’s vacated seat as Oakland’s primary shortstop. Consider the challenge accepted, as Andrus waived the no-trade protection attached to his 10-and-5 status to make the trade happen.

As for the other piece heading to Oakland, Garcia hit .229/.270/.419 over 111 plate appearances with the Giants between 2018 and 2019. The Rangers claimed the former second-round pick off waivers from San Francisco this past November. His inclusion doesn’t likely move the needle much in terms of the overall value of the deal, though he does give the A’s a cheap option to take over as for Heim as Sean Murphy’s backup. Though A’s fans may bristle at seeing Heim included in the deal given his success last season, if the A’s are committed to Murphy as their regular backstop, then including a backup catcher to achieve their goal of moving off the money owed to Davis this season would seem a calculated risk on their part. Notably, the A’s have another fairly well-regarded backstop in Austin Allen who could also step in to back up Murphy.

With Semien and Tommy La Stella already moving on to new teams this season, it’s hard to view the acquisition of Andrus as a significant win for the A’s. Never much of a slugger, Andrus has only twice exceeded 100 wRC+ and hasn’t topped 76 wRC+ since 2017. A three-year slash line of .260/.306/.378 won’t go far in trying to replace Semien, who was, after all, a legitimate MVP candidate as recently as 2019.

Andrus’ glovework should be his selling point, but he’s scored -7 defensive runs saved in 1,521 innings since 2019 and -3 outs above average in 2020. Statcast credits him with 5 outs above average in 2019, however, and a total 0.5 UZR over the past two years suggest Andrus can at least provide average defense for the A’s at short.

Khris Davis

The Rangers take on Davis, famed for his preternatural consistency in batting exactly .247 for four season in a row, which he followed up with matching 82 wRC+ seasons in 2019 and 2020. Davis’ power significantly dissipated these past two seasons, as the A’s saw his isolated power drop from .302 ISO in 2018 to .166 ISO and .1229 ISO the past two seasons. Davis hasn’t played much outfield in recent seasons, but the Rangers are fairly set in that regard anyhow with David Dahl and Joey Gallo expected to start regularly in the corners. Davis could steal some at-bats from Willie Calhoun at designated hitter, specifically against southpaws, whom Davis has continued to hit well with 135 wRC+ in 2020 (though his power saw an even more precipitous drop against lefties than righties in 2020).

The Rangers’ long-term value in this deal will come from Heim and Acker. The latter was a fourth round pick in 2020, and because of the pandemic, the 21-year-old has yet to make his professional debut.

Heim, meanwhile, has the potential to develop into a regular catcher for the Rangers. He made just 41 plate appearances last season, but earned rave reviews from the pitching staff for his ability to manage a game, per the Athletic’s Eno Sarris (via Twitter). Heim was the A’s No. 9 ranked prospect per MLB.com in 2020, No. 13 by Fangraphs, and No. 8 by Baseball America. Because of Oakland’s depth, Heim’s addition should mean more to the Rangers than his subtraction will for Oakland.

The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal broke the initial news of the deal, as well as the inclusion of Heim and Acker. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweeted news of Garcia’s inclusion in the deal, initially reported to be David Garcia instead of Aramis Garcia. ESPN’s Jeff Passan had the deal expanding beyond the initial framework of Andrus for Davis. Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram added the exact amount of cash heading to Oakland.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Rebound Candidate: Khris Davis

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Since joining the Athletics in 2016, Khris Davis has been a steady offensive force in the Oakland lineup, consistently finding his name near the top of yearly home run leaderboards. He hit more at least 42 homers in every year from 2016-2018 and played in at least 150 games each year. He even garnered MVP votes in 2017 and 2018, finishing eighth in the latter year when he slugged a league-leading 48 round-trippers. In April of last year, his reliability earned him a handsome two-year, $33.5MM extension that will keep him in an A’s uniform through at least 2021.

After that, however, things went south for Davis. All told, 2019 wound up being his worst year as a Major Leaguer, with his OPS dropping to just .679 and his wRC+ (81) dipping below league-average 100 for the first time in his career. And given that he doesn’t offer anything defensively, Davis’s value as a player is more sensitive to the fluctuations of his bat, and any slump becomes more pronounced. His value was always going to be limited to the offensive side—the A’s knew that when they signed him, but they couldn’t have foreseen such a sudden and steep fall from grace. But what was the root of his 2019 shortcomings, and what are the chances that Davis can right the ship in 2020 (whenever baseball does return) and be the slugger we’ve come to expect?

Beneath the surface, the striking difference between the 2019 version of Khris Davis and his previous years is that his exit velocity numbers slipped from elite to merely good. From 2016-2018, Davis’s first three years in Oakland, his average exit velocity ranked in the 94th percentile or better every year; in 2019, his 90.1 mph average placed him in only the top 30% of players. That’s still solid, no doubt, but for a player whose game is predicated almost entirely on power, that decline is considerably more significant. Davis has never been a batting average or OBP guy, so every tick off the exit velocity metric is important.

This worked against Davis in combination with a lessened ability to elevate the ball: along with the exit velocity numbers, Davis’s average launch angle on batted balls lowered from 18.1 to 13.2 degrees. Consequently, Davis saw his fly ball rate drop from 48.8% in 2018 to 37.4% last year, his lowest mark since 2013 when he was a Brewer. And of course, sacrificing fly balls comes with a corresponding jump in line drives and ground balls, which are markedly less valuable to a slugger like Davis—especially when he isn’t hitting the ball with as much authority as in years past.

Even when he did hit the ball in the air, he wasn’t doing as much damage as we’re used to seeing (which is even more unusual in 2019, given the league-wide power surge fueled by a jumpy baseball). And most of the drop-off came in a particular category: fly balls to the opposite field. Davis is a prolific opposite-field hitter, and it’s one of the traits that makes his power stand out; he hit 16 oppo homers in 2018 alone, more than anybody this side of J.D. Martinez. Last year, though, his wOBA on opposite-field fly balls was just .264, down from the astronomical .489 he posted the year prior. In essence, Khrush’s oppo power—a staple of his power game—became a non-factor, and anything in the air needed to be pulled.

As for his approach on a more micro scale, he swung the bat more than ever last year, especially at pitches in the zone: his 82.2% swing rate on pitches in the strike zone was the highest of his career, and his overall swing rate the second-highest. But Davis has lived in that neighborhood for his entire Athletics tenure, and it hasn’t stopped him from hitting in the past. Anyway, attacking hittable pitches is a good thing, and he doesn’t get exploited by going after too many bad pitches; his chase rate is just about league average. Moreover, that change hasn’t had any effect on his ability to make contact, and it hasn’t produced a precipitous change to either his walk or strikeout rate, which both sat right about where they were the year before.

So, what’s to blame for the sharp decline in production? It seems unlikely that a player in his early 30s, who just a year earlier mashed 48 home runs, could be sapped of his strength so suddenly. Career designated hitters like Nelson Cruz and Edwin Encarnación have maintained their pop into their late-30s; why should Davis be any different? It’d be more appropriate to chalk Davis’s struggles up to injuries: he was able to play in just 133 games for the A’s—the fewest in his Oakland tenure—and likely dealt with nagging consequences of oblique and hand injuries, both of which are notoriously troublesome for hitters. And it makes sense that with lingering hand problems, opposite field power would be one of the first things to go.

The oblique injury occurred in early May, while the hand issue dates to a HBP in late June. Sure enough, Davis’s three worst months in terms of OPS were July, August, and September. And trying to play through those injuries probably didn’t help things any. But with a full offseason (and more) to heal up the oblique and hand, the hope is that the Athletics will be able to count on a fully-healthy Davis to anchor the middle of their lineup for another postseason bid. The bet here is that Davis will be able to re-establish the consistent production he maintained for his first three years in Oakland.

The 2019 A’s were still able to succeed without much of the production they relied upon from Davis in 2018, thanks in part to the continued offensive maturation of Matt Chapman, Matt Olson, and Marcus Semien, as well as unexpected contributions from a host of low-profile hitters like Mark Canha. Their stout bullpen and patchwork rotation of misfits managed to prevent runs like the American League powerhouses, and with young guns A.J. Puk and Jesús Luzardo on hand and here to stay, they expect more of the same in 2020. Davis could be the missing ingredient to that equation, and another year of elite power output might make the difference between a third consecutive Wild Card exit and a deeper playoff run.

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