Austin Davis

WTM’s PLAYER PROFILE

2014
R:  1-1-3, 2.59 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 31.1 IP, 2.0 BB/9, 7.8 K/9

Davis had a solid debut, mostly in relief.  Of course, he was a college draftee pitching in rookie ball.

2015
A:  5-6-0, 3.76 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 95.2 IP, 4.1 BB/9, 7.6 K/9

The Phillies moved Davis up to low A, where he made 11 starts and 22 relief appearances.  He got fairly good results, with some control issues.  He held left-handed batters to a .559 OPS.

2016
R:  0-0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 4.0 IP, 4.5 BB/9, 9.0 K/9
A:  1-0-1, 1.38 ERA, 0.62 WHIP, 13.0 IP, 1.4 BB/9, 11.8 K/9
A+:  0-1-1, 5.28 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 15.1 IP, 2.3 BB/9, 10.6 K/9

Davis missed over half the season with an injury.  He started pitching in late June and made his way up to high A.  He pitched in relief apart from one start and posted high K rates.

2017
A+:  2-0-1, 2.01 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 22.1 IP, 1.2 BB/9, 11.7 K/9
AA:  4-2-1, 2.87 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 47.0 IP, 3.8 BB/9, 8.8 K/9

Davis opened the season at high A and dominated.  The Phillies moved him up to AA in May and he did reasonably well there.  He didn’t have a platoon split.

2018
AA:  1-1-0, 3.86 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 7.0 IP, 2.6 BB/9, 12.9 K/9
AAA:  0-1-0, 2.59 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 31.1 IP, 2.3 BB/9, 11.5 K/9
MLB:  1-2-0, 4.15 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 34.2 IP, 3.1 BB/9, 9.9 K/9

Davis opened the season in AAA.  He pitched well there, but for some reason the Phillies sent him to AA for a couple weeks in May.  He moved back up to AAA in June and, at mid-month, the Phillies called him up to the majors, where he spent most of the rest of the season.  Davis pitched respectably for the Phillies, with high K rates throughout.

2019
AAA:  4-1-3, 2.75 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 52.1 IP, 4.1 BB/9, 11.0 K/9
MLB:  0-0-0, 6.53 ERA, 1.74 WHIP, 20.2 IP, 6.1 BB/9, 10.5 K/9

Davis spent the season shuttling back and forth between AAA and the majors.  He was much more effective in the minors, partly due to significant control problems.  He also had major gopher ball problems with the Phillies, giving up a home run every three and a half innings.

2020
MLB:  0-0-0, 21.00 ERA, 3.67 WHIP, 3.0 IP, 3.0 BB/9, 6.0 K/9

The Phillies kept Davis in the majors at the start of the truncated season.  He made four appearances and had an extremely rough time over three innings.  The Phillies designated him for assignment and traded him to the Pirates for cash and a PTBNL.

For two years, the Pirates have essentially been running a tryout camp for relievers, acquiring other teams’ rejects wherever possible.  The strategy has been a failure so far, but it’s cheap and that’s what they care about.  Like virtually all the other relievers they’ve acquired, Davis isn’t young and has had a rough time so far in the majors.