Pirates Former No. 1 Pick Falling Out of Favor
Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Henry Davis has not lived up to expectations after being selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, and it appears as though the organization's patience with him has worn thin.
In an appearance on 93.7 The Fan's The Pomp And Joe Show, Pittsburgh Baseball Now's John Perrotto stated that Davis will be an unlikely inclusion on the club's Opening Day roster while adding that the franchise may regret choosing him over a host of other premier talents.
"Henry Davis will probably start off at Triple-A unless he has a good spring training," Perrotto said. "At some point, they're just going to have to come to grips with the fact that they really screwed up picking him first overall in the draft. I mean, I really see nothing in the time he's been in the big leagues over the past two seasons to make me think he could even be a regular in the big leagues, let alone be an impact player that you expect the first overall pick in the draft to be."
A silver lining with Davis is the fact that the Pirates cut an under-slot deal with him that allowed them to sign right-handed pitcher and top prospect Bubba Chandler in the third round, but that's about where the positives end thus far.
Ranked as a top-25 prospect in the league by both Baseball Prospectus (No. 18) and MLB Pipeline (No. 24) ahead of the 2022 campaign, Davis posted a .852 OPS in the minor leagues that year before finding his way to the big leagues in 2023.
As a rookie, he slashed .213/.302/.351 with seven home runs and -0.9 fWAR over 62 contests. Davis only spent two innings at catcher due to concerns about his viability as a defender and instead logged 417 1/3 frames in right field, where he was responsible for -9 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) and -6 Outs Above Average (OAA).
Davis was Pittsburgh's starting backstop entering 2024 after batting .310 with four home runs during spring training and showing improvement with his glove, though he was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis early in the season after recording a combined .497 OPS in March and April.
He ultimately closed out the year hitting .144 to go with a .453 OPS and -0.7 fWAR across 122 plate appearances in 37 games. The outlook wasn't any prettier on the other side of the ball, as Davis tallied -2 DRS with poor framing metrics behind the plate over 271 1/3 innings.
Joey Bart, who was the No. 2 overall pick in 2018, is now entrenched as the Pirates' starting catcher after putting up a .799 OPS and 121 wRC+ in 2024 following a trade from the San Francisco Giants. Davis could theoretically challenge Endy Rodríguez or Jason Delay for reps as the backup at the position, but he has a lot of work to do before the team feels comfortable handing him any sort of role.
