Davis’ development more than just eye test for organization
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By Jarrod Prugar
For the Mirror
Development is not something finite. In fact, development is more infinite than most things, especially in the game of baseball.
Look no further than Altoona or Indianapolis even to see that development goes far beyond the eye test or even the box scores. In both of those cities, you can find two of the top prospects within the Pirates organization in Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez respectively.
Both are catchers who have very high grades as hitters, but both aren't quite at the level necessary to get to Pittsburgh … yet.
Fans near and far clamor for the two to be in Pittsburgh, but it's really not as simple as going to the Major Leagues and having the success they're both expected to have and to do it immediately.
With Rodriguez being only a level away from Pittsburgh, it might seem like he's right on the cusp of getting his call, but it's a little more complex than that.
"There's so many things to learn at the catcher position and we're very thankful for Miguel Perez, former catcher or our manager in Indianapolis," Pirates farm director John Baker said. "The amount of time and attention that he pours into Endy teaching things like dugout awareness, pitch, pitch sequencing, you know, and he's getting some experience now with pitchers that have a bunch of Major League experience that are in their 30s that are trying to get back to the big leagues."
Numbers aren't able to quantify in-game things such as sequencing, dugout awareness and things of that nature. Not being able to have those numbers makes the evaluation process a little more difficult overall.
"Every player, when you look at them, athletically, physically, statistically has a profile," Baker said. "There's generally a reason why they're in the minor leagues so there's a very clear way forward.
The way we think about this is in six to eight week blocks, targeting the thing that we need to bring up and it's the most important thing for the player to make that next jump, and just hammering that, until it becomes either competence or strength."
Even then the numbers don't always tell the whole story. Batting average is one of those types of statistics like that. An average might look bad to the naked eye, but beyond the average there's a completely different side of things.
"One of the incredible things about baseball now is that we have all this technology that allows us to find out like how hard the ball is hit and what the angle it was hit at was or how much the pitch was spinning or what it looks like or if it was in the rulebook strike zone but it wasn't called the strike," Baker said. " We try to be measured with our view of outcomes. And, think more about the performance independent of the outcome … Is he making good decisions at the plate? Swinging strikes, is he hitting the ball hard and all of these things are happening. He's just not getting rewarded for it. And that allows us to make a more I think, measured judgment of a player."
For Davis, his numbers have been impressive at the plate which is something many expected when he was summoned to Altoona last year after hitting well in Greensboro prior to his call up.
"The offensive performance has been what I would expect from a player who has those capabilities," Baker said. "The guy can absolutely rake and it doesn't matter if you throw 105 and have a nasty breaking ball, Henry's gonna put up a good at bat and more times than not, he's going to hit the ball hard."
It's important to note defense also matters and that's where Davis is just a tad behind his hitting attributes. Catching isn't as simple as the outfield or first base even so it takes longer to develop than other positions.
"The catching position takes the longest amount of time to learn and grow and develop," Baker said. "It's a pretty clear scenario where the bat is ahead of the defense, but the defense is gaining ground because he's been working so hard at it."
As the first overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, Davis still lacks the type of experience where it would make sense for him to be promoted.
"When we think about where to put a player, or in Henry's case, he just like last week crossed the 100 professional games threshold," Baker said. "For him to be at this level, and perform the way that he has, I think is really impressive."
Having Davis and Rodriguez in the positions they're in is a good problem to have for Baker and the Pirates so at the end of the day, the organization will do whatever it takes to make sure there's no rush to get them both ready.
"I think they can get hit anywhere, personally," Baker said. "We want to make a long term lasting Major League catcher and that requires putting in at least a full season."
For now, Davis remains in Altoona and Rodriquez in Indianapolis awaiting what the future holds.call up. They'll continue focusing on their development both on and off the field and some time in the future they'll find themselves in Pittsburgh at the same time to give the Pirates a dose of fresh blood, but also two players who are more than capable of holding the catcher position down for years to come.