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Following Altoona's 6-4 win over Binghamton in front of 3,817 fans at PNG Field Sunday, Curve catcher Henry Davis was promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis.
"It feels good," Davis said from the clubhouse following the game. "I'm just going there to help the team win."
Davis is currently fourth among all Double-A players in on-base plus slugging and was hitting .284 at the time of his promotion.
His promotion is well-deserved, and it's another player Curve manager Callix Crabbe has been able to promote from Altoona this season.
"Anytime you get to promote a player, it's a good thing that means that your experience with them has influenced them, helped drive performance in some manner and then mature," Crabbe said.
The maturation process for Davis has been quick both at the plate and behind the plate as well. The 23-year old Davis has played in only 108 professional games since being drafted with the first overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft.
That quickness is sometimes a blessing and a curse as players like Davis want to be in Pittsburgh immediately, which isn't always what's best for the player.
"Henry is an extremely goal-oriented and highly motivated individual, and that means that he wants to move fast," Crabbe said. "One of the really neat things that we've had a chance to do is slow him down and let him know that there are many things that he's needed to learn and there's still things that he needs to continue to learn."
His learning will now be under the tutelage of former MLB catcher and former Curve manager, Miguel Perez. Learning under Perez is something not taken for granted by many within the Pirates organization, especially farm director John Baker.
"There's so many things to learn at the catcher position, and we're very thankful for Miguel Perez, former catcher and our manager in Indianapolis," Baker said in an interview with the Mirror last week. "The amount of time and attention that he pours into Endy Rodriguez teaching things like dugout awareness, pitch, pitch sequencing, etc."
Rodriguez and Davis make up the future at the catcher position and pending any roster moves should be in the same lineup come Tuesday for the Indians.
For Davis, his goal is still Pittsburgh, but now he's one step closer to realizing his Major League dreams. Until then he's in Indianapolis which will help the Indians out in a big way.
"I'm just looking to help the team win," Davis said.
Gorski goes gone-zo
Matt Gorski obliterated a Mike Vasil pitch onto the grass hill for a home run in the first inning of the game.
The home run -- his seventh of the season -- was estimated to be at 427 feet. It was his second home run and fifth extra base hit of the series.
Heart gets it done
The heart of the order came through when needed most with Gorski, Mason Martin and Andres Alvarez all notching two RBIs from the No. 3, 4 and 5 spots in the order, respectively.
"When they had the opportunity to strike, they struck," Crabbe said. "It was nice to see that but also really just see them controlling the own again."
Saturday's game
The Curve took down the Rumble Ponies 10-3 Saturday with starting pitcher Sean Sullivan yielding only three runs in five innings while the bullpen finished up with four shutout innings.
Jacob Gonzalez notched a three-run homer to break the game wide open in the third inning. Matt Gorski went 3-for-4 with three RBIs on the night as well.
Next up
Altoona heads to Richmond to take on the Flying Squirrels in a six-game set sitting only a game out of first place in the Eastern League Southwest Division.