Pirates Prospects Daily: Approach Leading Way To Power For Henry Davis

If competition truly brings out the best of people, then it’s safe to say that the catcher position for the Pittsburgh Pirates is going to be in strong hands for the immediate future.

Owning not one, but two of the best catching prospects in baseball, the Pirates could potentially have one of the best duos behind the plate in the game at some point soon.

Endy Rodriguez burst onto the scene last season, tearing across three different levels on the way to being named the Minor League Player of the Year. He will be in Pittsburgh this week to get evaluated after leaving a recent game and then being placed on the injured list.

That’s opened the door for Henry Davis to take the spotlight once again. The former first overall pick has most of his first full professional season wiped out due to injuries. Healthy this season, Davis has four home runs on the season — to go along with four stolen bases — but there’s a point more impressive to his start.

He’s had an unlucky start to the season when it comes to putting the ball into play, with a .258 BABIP, 40-points lower than his career mark. That being said, he’s walked (13) more than he’s struck out (10), constantly stringing together strong plate appearances.

Henry Davis launched one an estimated 460 ft!

The @Pirates' No. 3 prospect has three homers in his last nine games for the @AltoonaCurve. pic.twitter.com/TJWlU9D2t1

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 23, 2023

The power is there, and taking the approach he is at the plate, the ‘bad luck’ won’t last long.

Staying healthy was the biggest key to his season this year, and if he continues this he will have the chance to close the gap that Rodriguez created with his performance last year.

DAILY NOTES

— The Pirates are currently sitting with the second most wins in all of baseball, trailing only the Tampa Bay Rays. It’s been an incredible start to the year, something that certainly wasn’t expected.

It’s been an interesting start, as they’ve certainly taken advantage of an easy start to the season, as their opponent’s have a combined record of 53-81. So, it’s fair to point out that they’ve beaten up on some weak competition.

It’s also fair to say that at the very least, they’ve pushed themselves in another tier of teams that they’ve reached the point where they are expected to beat certain teams.

— Javier Rivas has had his fare share of struggles to start the season, striking out just over 40% of the time so far. He’s also hit the ball very hard, and picked up the first two extra-base hits of the season this weekend – a double and home run.

He’s handled the shortstop position fantastically, even at his size, and has tools that scouts drool over. You had to figure there’d be growing pains to start the year, but even through them, he’s shown just what he has the potential for.

— JP Massey was fantastic on Sunday, striking out seven while allowing just two hits and a walk over five innings. His breaking stuff is certainly advanced enough to give Single-A hitters fits, it just comes down to consistency with his control.

Check out the rest of the minor league action in the Prospect Watch:

Prospect Watch: Multi-Homer Day for Henry Davis and Jase Bowen

Daily Video Rundown

Javier Rivas with another run scoring hit, this time a RBI double #LetdGoBucs pic.twitter.com/KFtZvlpGZX

— Anthony Murphy (@__Murphy88) April 23, 2023

A look at the Rivas RBI double in the eighth inning of Sunday’s game.

Travis Swaggerty is currently on the injured list with an ‘illness’, so this is looking back to his big day against the Louisville Bats across two games of a doubleheader.

Although he didn’t have the best of starts this week, Quinn Priester struck out nine in 4.2 innings in his previous start.