There hasn't been a more perplexing case of being a "Four-A" player in Rangers history, possibly baseball history.
Fans might remember when Nelson Cruz was like this in the Milwaukee system, and even in the Texas system for a short time, then in his late 20s emerged as a big-time power hitter with all-star talent.
Chris Davis is only 25 years old, about the age a prospect is supposed to hit the bigs, and he's already hoping his fourth lengthy stint in the majors begins soon as he's been absolutely destroying Triple-A pitching in his short time in Round Rock, enough so to land him an all-star bid in the Pacific Coast League All-Star game.
In 131 at-bats for Round Rock this year, Davis is hitting .374 with a 1.299 OPS and a slugging percentage of .878 with an out-of-this-world 19 home runs and 52 RBIs. Again, that's in just 131 at-bats.
We've seen this before, and we've seen Davis hit the bigs and find huge holes in his swing that leads to him hitting below .200 and on pace to set a big league record for strikeouts in a season.
In his short time up in Arlington this year, he hasn't been great at the plate, but he hasn't been embarrassing either, hitting .269 in 52 at-bats, a small sample size, yes, but a sample size nonetheless.
There's also something else different about this Chris Davis. He's not only a great defensive first baseman and a well above average third baseman, but now he's learning how to play the corner outfield spots.
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So when Davis is called up soon with the July 31 trade deadline looming, he'll no doubt be on showcase to the rest of the league and is rumored to step into left field while Josh Hamilton moves back to center field (good move, by the way). But what if he finally has found his swing, and what if he can play a quality outfield on defense? Maybe he'll end up being the acquisition instead of being a piece to get one. A power hitting first and third baseman AND corner outfielder is a valuable piece to any team. Now it's up to Davis to show he can do it at the big league level, once and for all.
