The Relentless Brad Davis

[Lions]

w/ pitcures

Water is, perhaps literally, the single most important thing in the world. It is essential for life. All living things need it and need it in significant quantities to survive. It doesn’t matter if they live in deep caves underground, high atop mountain peaks, or in the driest deserts on earth. However, in modern society, we rarely think about it. We turn on the faucet and out it comes. It’s taken from granted that it will be there. Perhaps it comes from a local river that ceaselessly flows by our neighborhoods and homes. It’s always there, often in our minds, appreciated, but still, just there. Brad Davis is that river.

Davis was born in Evergreen, WI, but moved to Mississippi and eventually went to West Lauderdale High School. He was a strong kid, but not particularly tall. He joined the West Lauderdale Knights baseball team and played JV his freshman year. His sophomore year he made varsity but only played in 5 games and hit just .238.

“He just didn’t care that much about baseball back then,” his high school friend Chris Brantley shared. “He’d rather get off school and go fishing in the lake under the shade of a tree than stand out in the sun shagging flies.” The problem was that the baseball team wanted him.

Throughout his junior year, Davis was officially on the team, but he never practiced with them or got in any games. “Sometimes he’d walk back from Okatibbee (Lake) as we were packing up things from practice,” Brantley continues. “He’d stop to chat and, one way or the other, he’d end up at the plate with a bat in his hands. Coach (Garry) Brooks would pitch, and he’d lace line drives everywhere. Such a smooth swing! Bam… off the right field wall! Bam… just over the right-center fence! Everything on a rope.” But try as they might, the rest of the Knights couldn’t get him on the field.

Something changed, though, his senior year. He signed up for Legion ball. Said it didn’t feel right to join the Knights and take away someone’s spot who’d worked for it the past 3 years, but they’d have been happy to have him. “I tried to convince him,” revealed former Knights coach Garry Brooks, “but there was something he couldn’t get past. Never told me what it was, but you could see it in his eyes. In the way he didn’t even give it a second thought.”

Legion is what got the scouts’ attention. He hit the ball so hard that most teams played the infield back. They’d have plenty of time to throw him out as long as they could get to the ball. He had more doubles than singles. He’d walk if he didn’t get his pitch and then next at bat punish the first good pitch he saw. Sure, he’d line out or look completely fooled on a strikeout, but every game he would seemingly have 1-2 hits. Then again, this was Legion ball.

Scouts had a bit of a conundrum. At the time, the top prospects in baseball were all playing their organized ball with their college or high school team. Davis wasn’t like that. Were his numbers against Legion pitchers as good as they looked? Could he really hack it against the nation’s best young pitchers? The 2014 draft forced scouting departments across PEBA to come to grips with those questions. More importantly, though, would Davis even sign with a team?

“I was literally jumping for joy when I saw West Virginia select Brad Davis,” former Florida Featherheads GM Kevin Lewis said at the time. Florida had the pick right after the Alleghenies and were keen to draft starting pitcher Tatsui Kouno, which they then did. While they were looking to draft a first baseman with their next pick, ultimately settling on Donald McKee, the comment did not sit well with Davis.

“I think Brad made up his mind when he heard that,” his old friend Brantley stated, “to finally just commit to it. He kind of said ‘F those F-heads’ and that was it. No looking back, and he hasn’t ever since.” While he didn’t have a good introduction to pro ball in Kauai, first getting sick then fracturing his foot, by 2016 he was on the ascent. The Alleghenies brought him up at 22 years old in 2018 alongside Kouno, who they had ironically traded for in the meantime. Davis played DH, hitting 22 home runs, 25 doubles, and earning May IL Rookie of the Month honors. He did not win Wunderkind, as some guy named Don Mercer won that while wearing the same uniform. The 2018 rookie class for the Alleghenies was something else.

Davis continued his strong play in the coming years. Those line drives that he hit for his American Legion team showed up in West Virginia and every other PEBA ballpark he appeared in. It didn’t seem to matter that the quality of pitching was significantly better. His WAR gradually increased every season through 2022, when he led the IL with 348 total bases, and his 84 extra base hits ranked second. In end of season awards, Davis finished as runner up in the IL Royal Raker balloting to Arlington’s Pat Barry.

Now, 17 seasons into his PEBA career, 12 of them with West Virginia, it’s stunning to look back at just how consistently good Davis has been. He hit 20-33 home runs in 14 of his first 15 seasons, dropping to 16 for a season at age 35. He hit 20-50 doubles in 14 of those same 15 seasons. He’s posted a career average of .285 despite never getting 200 hits in a season. In other words, his averages rarely plummeted and rarely soared. He just floated on ceaselessly.

Davis will never be Rob Raines, whose career carved out a Grand Canyon of soaring heights and breathtaking sights, but he now has a chance to join Raines as the second member of the 3,000 hit club. He’s currently 264 hits away from that milestone, 2nd place on the career list. Davis is closer to Raines’ record 3026 hits than he is to Chris Long, who’s in 3rd place. He also holds the career PEBA record with 559 doubles. He will soon pass Mike Britt for 3rd on the career RBI list. His new 3-year deal with the Thoroughbreds pays him more annually than he’s ever earned, and means he’s likely to keep getting at bats into next season as long as he can stay healthy.

And yet, in this career that he has carved out for himself, he’s been an All-Star just twice. It feels like we’ve missed something along the way. Like we’ve taken for granted that he would always be here. Or worse yet, always just assumed he would soon be going away. Maybe we still see those American Legion line drives and think they’ll soon slow down. They have slowed down. Yet they keep coming.

Davis has a shot at 400 HR’s and 1,000 RBI. If he gets those 3,000 hits he’ll probably get those other big numbers, too, and who’s going to count him out at this point? Now he’s with Kentucky. Having just signed that three year contract with the team, they are hoping the river keeps flowing. Someone finally believes he’s isn’t going away. Never stopping. Never wavering. Just powering on while the rest of the world carries on with whatever they carry on with. And Davis… well he’ll just keep hitting those line drives.

[Borealis]

I'm just getting to this and what a beautiful piece! And aptly stated. I think we can hear the Hall calling!!