ST. LOUIS -- Henry Davis admits he's not trying to think too much when he's at the plate nowadays. While his major-league struggles and minor-league adjustments have been well documented through the first few months of the season, Davis has focused on trying to keep things simple.
"I think that it's such a complicated game. Things don't go well, you're trying to go in the rearview mirror and find out what's worked in the past, or you're just trying to be in the present. I think that really helps," Davis said. "Obviously just trying to help the team win, keeping things simple. I think at times probably letting how poorly things have gone the day before affect trying to do (something like) get two hits in one at-bat, whatever it may be. But just trying to keep it as simple as possible has helped."
While Davis is still struggling to the tune of a .157 batting average and .514 OPS this season, a bit of a weight appeared to be lifted off his shoulders in the form of his first home run of the season in the Pirates' 4-2 loss to the Cardinals at Busch Stadium Wednesday night.
Davis, who popped out and nearly hit a homer on a ball that went foul before eventually striking out in his previous two at-bats, belted a 2-1 slider from Andrew Kittredge and sent it 412 feet to center in the eighth inning:
Henry Davis with a 412-foot home run
— Platinum Ke’Bryan (@PlatinumKey13) June 13, 2024
104.8 MPH exit velocity, HR in 28/30 ballparks pic.twitter.com/9ODW2Q72qV
"Just trying to get something that starts in the zone that I can do damage in," Davis said. "Stay to the middle of the field."
Derek Shelton said the homer -- the first by Davis in 83 at-bats this season -- was encouraging to see considering the results haven't often been in his favor while with the major-league club.
"Late in the game off a guy like Kittredge that has good stuff. Maybe the fact that that's the first homer now, there's a little sigh of relief," Shelton said. "But the at-bat before, he did a really good job. He took a really good swing and missed a homer by about 10 feet. So overall, very encouraging."
The home run was Davis' second hit in 15 at-bats since being recalled from Class AAA Indianapolis on June 4. Strikeouts have once again been an issue upon him rejoining the team, as he's gone down on strikes nine times. Still, Shelton believes Davis deserves more time to figure his way out of this slump, especially after the tweaks he's made to his swing and the positive results he finally saw with the long ball.
"We're gonna have to give it a little bit of runway," Shelton said. "I think that's the thing -- we just got to continue to see that adjustments are being made."
