Ike Davis (davisik02)
From BR Bullpen
Isaac Benjamin Davis
- Bats Left, Throws Left
- Height 6' 4", Weight 205 lb.
- School Arizona State University
- High School Chaparral High School
- Debut April 19, 2010
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[edit] Biographical Information
The son of Ron Davis, Ike Davis was a first-round pick in the 2008 amateur draft. He represented the US in international tournaments at the youth, college and senior level. He made his major league debut as a first baseman with the New York Mets in 2010.
[edit] High school
As a youth, Davis was batboy for the Phoenix Firebirds. In his sophomore year in high school, he hit .559 while going 9-0 with 3 saves and a 1.58 ERA to win All-State honors and be named Arizona's Mr. Baseball. He was a star performer for the 2003 USA youth national team, hitting .464 with 7 doubles, 8 runs and 10 RBI in 28 at-bats to help lead them to a Gold Medal in the 2003 World Youth Championship. He led the team in doubles, was second in RBI and tied for 4th in runs. He was also 1-0 on the hill.
As a junior, Davis batted .420 and had a record of 8-0 with 5 saves and a 2.10 ERA and won All-State honors. He was MVP of the 2004 AFLAC All-American Game.
Davis was the first baseman for the USA in the 2004 World Junior Championship, hitting .316 with 6 RBI, second to Kyle Russell on the 4th-place squad; he had more RBI than Justin Upton, Buster Posey, Andrew McCutchen, Brandon Snyder or David Cooper, all future first-round picks. Ike also was the top USA hurler, going 1-0 and allowing 3 hits, no walks and no earned runs in six innings while striking out 10. He tied Sean O'Sullivan for the team lead in Ks.
Davis hit .450 as a senior and went 5-0. Overall in high school, he had hit .447 with 106 RBI in 320 at-bats, set a school record with 48 doubles, went 23-0 with 14 saves and a 1.85 ERA and set another record with 213 strikeouts (in 174 innings).
[edit] College
He was drafted in the 19th round of the 2005 Amateur Draft by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Opting for college, Davis hit .329/.387/.542 with 65 RBI in 58 games as a freshman for Arizona State. He was just 2-3 with a 7.42 ERA on the mound. Ike was named Pac-10 Conference Freshman of the Year and set a school record for RBI by a freshman. He was second to Chris Minaker in the Conference in RBI. Davis was named a second-team Freshman All-American DH by Baseball America and made the Pac-10 All-Conference team. He also was named a freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball. Ike spent the summer with the Anchorage Bucs; Baseball America rated him the Alaska Baseball League's #10 prospect.
Davis had a very good sophomore season as well, producing at a .349/.407/.546 clip with 56 runs and 61 RBI in 62 games. He did not pitch as frequently but was 1-1 with a 1.35 ERA in his limited mound work. He tied C.J. Ziegler for the Pac-10 lead with 23 doubles. Davis was named All-Pac-10 in the outfield. He played for the Wareham Gatemen in the Cape Cod League, hitting .246 before a wrist injury cut his summer ball short.
As a junior, Davis hit .378 with 16 home runs and 68 RBI. On the hill, he was 4-1 with 4 saves and a 2.66 ERA. He was named first-team All-Pac-10 for the third consecutive campaign.
[edit] Minors
Davis was then drafted in the 1st round of the 2008 amateur draft by the New York Mets, the 24th first-rounder in ASU history. He was signed by scout Mike Brown for $1.575 million and debuted with the Brooklyn Cyclones on June 26, going 1 for 4 with a double and a run against the Aberdeen Ironbirds. Davis hit .256/.326/.326 with no homers in an unimpressive debut season. Baseball America rated him the #17 prospect in the New York-Penn League, between Tim Fedroff and Chase d'Arnaud.
In 2009, Davis made significant strides. He hit .288/.376/.486 in 59 games for the St. Lucie Mets and .309/.386/.565 in 55 for the Binghamton Mets. Overall, he had 31 doubles, 20 homers and 71 RBI. He led all Mets farmhands in circuit clouts as well as slugging (.524). Baseball America ranked him as the #9 prospect in the Florida State League (right behind Ben Revere) and #13 in the Eastern League. Had he qualified, he would have been .011 behind EL slugging leader Brian Dopirak and 6th in average.
[edit] World Cup
Davis hit .308/.419/.692 as a Team USA first baseman-right fielder in the 2009 Baseball World Cup, backing up Justin Smoak at first and Josh Kroeger in right and seeing increasing action as the Cup progressed and he performed well. He swatted three homers in eight games and finished 4th on the US in slugging behind Smoak, Jon Weber and Lucas May. He sat out the 10-5 Gold Medal game win over the Cuban national team, though, as the US went to Smoak and Kroeger at Davis's two positions.
[edit] Majors
Davis made an excellent impression in his first spring training with the Mets in 2010, almost making the team to begin the season, as a result of Carlos Delgado not having been re-signed over the winter. With Daniel Murphy injured, the Mets began the year with veterans Mike Jacobs, Fernando Tatis and Frank Catalanotto sharing the job at first base, while Davis went to AAA Buffalo where he hit .364 in 10 games. Meanwhile, the trio of veterans was not doing the job; on April 18, Jacobs was designated for assignment, and the next day Davis was called up and inserted into the starting line-up. He made his presence felt immediately, going 2 for 4 with an RBI in 6-1 win over the Chicago Cubs. He remained the starting first baseman for the rest of the year and showed some good power in his first season, belting 33 doubles and 19 homers in 147 games. His batting line of .264/.351/.440 was quite solid for a rookie with fairly limted professional experience.
He started off 2011 well, being the Mets' most consistent hitter over the first month-and-a-half of the season, with a batting line of .302/.383/.543 in 36 games, good for an OPS+ of 156. Unfortunately, though, he was injured in a collision with 3B David Wright when the two ran into each other while trying to catch an infield pop-up hit by Troy Tulowitzki of the Colorado Rockies on May 10th. Davis injured his ankle and was placed on the disabled list the next day, soon joined by Wright who had injured his back in a separate incident earlier in the season but had continued playing. His ankle injury did not heal well, and an MRI conducted a month later revealed that cartilage damage was still present. The Mets decided to extend his rest by another three weeks, hoping to avoid season-ending surgery, but in vain. He did not undergo surgery, but did not play again that year either. To make things worse, he contracted an infection of the lungs during the off-season that was likely a case of Valley Fever, a disease that can sap a player's strength for long periods. The Mets were treating the issue very carefully, aware that fellow player Conor Jackson had missed most of the 2009 season because of the disease, also contracted in Arizona where Davis lives in the off-season.
[edit] Sources
- 2004-2008 Baseball Almanacs
- ASU bio
- 2009 Baseball World final report
