After season of struggles, Pirates catcher Henry Davis learning to be patient with the process

With two bone bruises causing inflammation in his left hand and a broken middle finger on his right hand, Henry Davis has trouble getting a grip on a bat let alone how his season with the Pittsburgh Pirates went awry.

It isn’t lost on the No. 1 overall pick of the 2021 MLB Draft that in a season that began with him in the Opening Day lineup will end without Davis getting a chance to catch phenom Paul Skenes, as the 2023 No. 1 overall pick and a leading candidate for NL rookie of the year honors makes his final start on Saturday at the New York Yankees.

“I think that’s unfortunate,” Davis told TribLive. “It’s just the way it worked out. It is what it is.”

It wasn’t the type of season Davis imagined but rather one that taught him a valuable lesson: Learning how to patient with the process. That’s hardly his style, as Davis is renowned for a work ethic that he believed would accelerate his path to the major leagues. Instead of dwelling on the disappointment, Davis is focusing on finding solutions.

“That’s actually all I have to take it for,” Davis said. “Me sitting here and dwelling on anything that happened isn’t going to help in the future. I need to take some opportunity to understand what can I learn from this to make myself a better player and person moving forward and take advantage of every opportunity I have to make that happen, do everything I can to help the plan and make what I know I can and what I have done in the minor leagues come to fruition in the big leagues?”

After an offseason spent concentrating on his catching, Davis won the Pirates’ starting job. Injuries played a part, as Endy Rodriguez underwent Tommy John surgery, Yasmani Grandal was sidelined by plantar fasciitis and Jason Delay suffered a torn meniscus.

Davis also hit .310 with four home runs and 12 RBIs in 16 Grapefruit League games in spring training and impressed Pirates coaches with his improved play behind the plate, especially his game-calling.

Then Davis batted .162 (11 for 68) through his first 23 games with the Pirates. He was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis on May 3, eight days before Skenes made his major league debut.

Davis blames not the burden of being an everyday starter at catcher in the majors for the first time after starting 49 games in right field as a rookie but rather making adjustments “too quickly” at the plate. Davis realizes his spring training statistics come with an asterisk, as pitchers are working on sharpening their arsenal instead of attacking an opponent’s weaknesses, but “felt very confident” in his ability to hit.

“I think that catching as much as I did early in the season, there’s that factor of fatigue that I need to give credit to. And learning these other catchers, it goes in tides and turns,” Davis said. “Me being impatient and wanting that instant gratification of the results to show that I can contribute and I’m ready here, I made constant tweaks rather than letting things play out, which in the past was one of my best attributes: Just committing to the process and staying to it.”

For as much as Davis thrived at Indianapolis this season, slashing .307/.401/.555 with 15 doubles, 13 homers and 43 RBIs in 57 games, he continued to struggle against major league pitching. He batted .123 (8 for 65) against fastballs and .138 (4 for 29) against breaking balls, alarming numbers for a hitter who has feasted on heaters.

“I always felt in the past, when things got later in the count, I’d try to be short to the ball and consistent and let everything happen and just be a tough out,” Davis said. “I do feel like I tried to do too much. I tried to be on everything, cover everything, have the one swing that was going to get me out of it rather than trusting the process, which is something I’ve historically done well.”

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington challenged Davis to get back to finding his offensive identity. The 6-foot, 220-pound Davis has prodigious power, which explains why he was so coveted coming out of college, but hasn’t shown any consistency at the plate. As a rookie, Davis had 10 doubles, seven home runs and 24 RBIs in 62 games but batted only .213. He had a 36.9% strikeout rate this season.

“He’s been a very good performer at literally every level of the game except yet in the major leagues,” Cherington said. “This is the place he still needs to figure it out — and we believe he will. … He doesn’t have to be anything more than the best version of himself.”

Injuries ultimately derailed Davis’ season. He was recalled by the Pirates on June 4, only to be placed on the seven-day concussion injured list 11 days later. His rehabilitation assignment hit a speed bump at Double-A Altoona, so Davis was sent to Indianapolis on July 4. When he returned to the Pirates in late August, his hand bothered him until the Pirates eventually shut him down for the rest of the season.

“I think the unfortunate thing for Henry is, because of the fact that he’s been dealing with this, he hasn’t been able to get a ton of work in,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “It’s unfortunate when he’s trying to have major-league at-bats and the only swings or at-bats you’re having are during the game. I think that’s when we thought it was a situation like, ‘OK, we need to make sure that we get him healthy so he can work on the things that he’s supposed to work on.’”

What was valuable for Davis was the opportunity to pick the brains of Grandal and Bart. Where Grandal is a 13-year veteran and two-time All-Star who offers valuable insight, Bart can relate to the pressure of trying to live up to his pedigree. The San Francisco Giants selected Bart second overall in 2018 to be the heir apparent to seven-time All-Star and 2012 NL MVP Buster Posey. Instead, Bart was viewed as a bust when he was traded to the Pirates in April and rejuvenated his career.

“He’s been great mentally, understanding that as much as we both came up as offensive catchers — which is why the commodity is picked so high in the draft — the variables that come with being a big league catcher and you have to put catching first, it can take the offense longer,” Davis said. “More than anything, I got impatient with that. I expected it to be immediate. I felt that something was off or I was doing something wrong when it wasn’t immediate, instead of giving credit to the game that it’s going to take time, even if I don’t want it to.”

Davis has designs on being a run-producer for the Pirates, so he blames himself for being impatient with the development process. He wanted to make it happen instead of allowing it to happen.

What Davis can take away is the successes he’s had, whether it’s becoming the first major leaguer to homer twice in one game off two-time AL MVP Shohei Ohtani last year or proving he can handle himself behind the plate this year. Davis knows the Pirates have what he called a “complicated catching situation,” facing competition with Rodriguez returning and Bart back, but believes he will be better next season.

“Obviously, I would love to catch. If anything I did well, I thought the box I checked this season is that I can catch in the big leagues,” Davis said. “I definitely think that, no matter what, it gives me confidence in myself and the player I am. It just shows that I’ve got to work even harder and let it come to fruition. Part of that hard work is patience, which I’ve got to get better with.”