ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Red Sox acquired Austin Davis at the 2021 trade deadline for Michael Chavis, a former first-round pick who was popular with Boston fans, earning the nickname “The Ice Horse.”
Davis, who owns a cool nickname himself, “Big Fudge,” was involved in two trades in two years. The Phillies dealt him to the Pirates in August 2020.
The left-handed reliever said he doesn’t keep track of how Chavis is doing or the Phillies’ return (minor leaguer Joel Cesar).
“Chavis is a position player, I’m a pitcher,” Davis told MassLive.com during the first series of the West Coast road trip in Oakland. “So it’s like, I hope he does well for them and I hope I do well for the Red Sox. To me, it’s not about winning or losing the trade because that has nothing to do with me. I’m trying to get guys out and help us win here.”
The trade has worked out well for both sides. Chavis, in a platoon role, is batting .280 with a .319 on-base percentage, .470 slugging percentage, .789 OPS, five homers, six doubles, two triples, 16 runs and 18 RBIs in 44 games (144 plate appearances) for Pittsburgh this year. He has a .299/.328/.477/.805 line in 56 games with the Pirates since the trade.
Davis, who was warming here in the eighth inning Monday but did not enter (Michael Wacha pitched a complete game 3-hit shutout to beat the Angels), has posted a 1.69 ERA (21 ⅓ innings, four earned runs) in 21 appearances.
“It’s been awesome,” Davis said about being with the Red Sox. “It’s been the most fun I’ve had in the big leagues. Last year, obviously winning. And then having the coaching staff and the teammates and everyone around here, the training staff, to put me in the best position possible to succeed. With that, AC (Alex Cora) has done a really good job of putting me in positions where I have good matchups that I can get the guys out or have the best chance to. He’s a really good manager.”
Davis posted a 2.97 ERA in 336 ⅓ innings in the minors. His success has finally translated to the majors this season, although he’s cautiously optimistic.
“We’re only a third of the way through the season,” Davis said. “So I’m not counting anything as guaranteed yet. You still have to let all 162 play out and see what ends up.”
Davis has a new slider grip this season. He learned it from Brooks Kriske who made 16 relief appearances with the Yankees and Orioles in 2020-21. The 28-year-old is pitching this season for the Yokohama Bay Stars where he learned the grip, then shared it with Davis.
Davis throws his fastball and slider to left-handed hitters. He uses his changeup, fastball and slider to right-handed hitters.
“It’s kind of mix and match with those at-bats and keep them guessing,” he said.
Davis showed Tanner Houck the new slider grip and Houck’s slider has been nasty since.
“He throws it a lot better than I do,” Davis said.
He said he has had more success this year because of better movement on his slider. All his pitches have been tough to hit. Opponents are 6-for-30 (.200) against his fastball, 2-for-10 (.200) vs. his changeup and 9-for-37 (.243) against his slider.
Eight of the nine hits against his slider have been singles. Opponents have a .270 slugging percentage vs. the pitch.
“If you’re throwing a slider that is moving on average 15 inches and the fastball is moving 15 inches the other way, it’s kind of tough (for the hitter) to cover both,” Davis said. “The slider I was throwing before wasn’t moving as much. So it’s easy for a hitter to adjust down to it.”
Davis feels he also has done a better job getting ahead in counts this season.
“Just throwing more strikes,” he said “Attacking the zone better early in counts, getting in good counts. If you see the splits on 0-1, 0-2 vs. 1-0, 2-0, it’s pretty drastic. So you just keep yourself in good counts and you’ll be good.”
Davis came to the Red Sox on the same day as Hansel Robles who Boston acquired from the Twins. The two have established a nice rapport.
“For Hansel and I, we came over together. We were on different flights but then we came over from the airport and we had to do our COVID in-take testing together and all that stuff,” Davis said. “And then first day, we decided to play catch together. He said, ‘Hey, I like to long toss. You might not want to do that.’ And I said, ‘Heck yeah. I love to long toss.’ It’s hard to find people who like to long toss sometimes because they just have different ways of going about it. So there’s a connection there. And he likes to talk baseball, talk pitching.”
Davis was selected in the same draft as Chavis. Davis went in the 12th round (352nd overall) out of California State University, Bakersfield in 2014. Chavis was the 26th overall pick.
The Blue Jays selected Houck just two picks after Davis at 354th overall. But Houck didn’t sign and instead went to pitch at Mizzou.
Davis said he received a decent signing bonus but he worked during minor league offseasons.
“I wasn’t living off of it for a long time,” he said. “I used it to pay off most of my student loans. And then I still had a few student loans left.”
He interned with the youth pastor at his church his first offseason of professional ball. He worked with a non-profit organization ‘Teach One to Lead One’ both his second and third offseasons in professional ball.
“In one aspect, I really haven’t thought about (a career after baseball) because you just put so much energy into this,” Davis said. “On the other hand, I like to read. I like to think about the way the world works. I’ll probably do something in a field that is trying to bring people together, bring people out of situations that are difficult. I don’t really know what that’s going to look like.”
For now, he’s focused on a long baseball career. And he’s taking advantage of different resources to improve as a pitcher.
“I’ve sat in here and listened to our hitters’ meetings and listened to what they talk about,” he said. “It seems like there’s a lot you can learn just from listening to hitters talk baseball and then look into the numbers and see how that reflects in your pitch usage or how your stuff moves or what makes it difficult for a hitter to stay on different stuff. So I try to use that to my advantage.”
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