As O’s fans, we’ve completely gotten used to Chris Davis flipping his bat at a pitch, and said pitch subsequently ending up several rows deep in the outfield stands.
It’s what “Crush” does.
I remember last year, I’d be watching games with my Dad, and we would constantly say to each other, “man, if only he could hit the ball fair a bit more often.” Davis would then foul off the next three pitches, and ultimately strike out. Not every time, but often enough to leave us frustrated.
In 2013, as we all know, Davis is indeed putting the ball in play more often (K% down to 21.9 from career 31). And the results, as Dad and I expected, are through the roof. And that’s with Davis cutting down his swing to make better contact – the guy doesn’t even need to swing hard.
Over at FanGraphs today, Jeff Sullivan has put together a fun little post detailing what he sees as Chris Davis’ 5 most effortless dinger swings of the season.
A snippet:
3
- Date: May 29
- Pitcher: Tyler Clippard
- HR Distance: 406 feet
- HR Speed off bat: 102.2 miles per hour
I don’t even know why Chris Davis has legs. Wait, no, that’s ridiculous, that’s not what I meant. Obviously he needs to move places. But as a batter, I feel like Davis’ legs could be asleep or removed and he’d still slug .650 without breaking a sweat. This is just Davis flipping the ball to center field, completely with his arms. This is a gentle game of tennis. Were it any other batter, you’d look at the .gif and assume “shallow pop-up.” Davis cleared rows. His swing ends up with him in perfect home-run-watching position. That’s probably not a coincidence.
Exerts as much effort as:
Almost getting up off the couch, then not
I chose the above home run (#3 on Sullivan’s list) because it also produced this great GIF, of Nationals pitcher Tyler Clippard displaying that he’s not quite as familiar with Crush’s strength as Birdland is.
via @OriolesGIFs
I’ll leave the lip-reading to you, loyal reader.
Anyway, be sure to check out Sullivan’s entire piece.
