Davis (Finally) Demoted

The first baseman will be sent to AAA Oklahoma to make room for the newly-activated Josh Hamilton

By SCOTT M. CRISP

Updated 10:55 AM CST, Sun, Jul 12, 2009

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Less than an hour after Texas finished their sweep of Tampa Bay on Sunday night, it was reported on Inside Corner, Evan Grant's Blog on the D Magazine Web site, that Josh Hamilton had been activated, and that Chris Davis would be sent to Class-AAA Oklahoma.

The move was probably overdue, at least from Davis's standpoint, although he vindicated his own presence with defense and a hustle that never seemed to cease.

Davis himself spoke in a tone of quiet, understanding acceptance. Perhaps even relief.

"When you're hitting .200 and leading the league in strikeouts, it's kind of hard to say it caught you off guard," Davis said. "I really appreciate how long they stuck with me. I think they stuck with me more than they really had to.

"I think it's one thing after another -- mechanics, mental -- whatever it may be, we've made a lot of adjustments with the mental approach. What I'm doing's not working and we're going to find out what that is and try to assess the problem."

Ron Washington, predictably, seemed optimistic about Davis.

Chris Davis on heading to AAA OKC

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Chris Davis on heading to AAA OKC

"Chris needs to get down there and get things together a little bit," Washington said. "More than anything else, it was Chris' interest we were thinking about. He needs to get to a less-pressure environment and get it back together. We know what he's capable of doing and as soon as he gets things together, we'll get him back here."

Davis stumbled out of the gate in 2009, and has never seemed to find the groove that led to his .285 average and 17 home runs in 80 games last season. His average climbed as high as .240 in mid-May, but slowly descended again and remains now at .202; this Mendoza-line territory has become Davis's home in 2009.

There's no reason to think he won't get things together in triple-A; however, as far as Rangers management (and fans) are concerned, there was also no reason to believe that he would snap out of it at the major league-level.

Heading to Oklahoma City, presumably until after the all-star break, Davis's strikeout total will remain at 114; this means he will not snap Bo Jackson's American League record 115 strikeouts before the break, a dubious record which was (obviously) on the verge of crumbling.

Davis will split time with fellow first baseman Justin Smoak, Texas' first round draft pick in 2008, who was promoted from AA Frisco last week.

Hank Blalock will take over Rangers' first base duties in the absence of the struggling 23 year-old.