November 4, 2020

By Jay Blue

Blue Jays from Away

We continue to look at the 2020 Toronto Blue Jays by looking at an outfielder who was considered one of the Jays' depth guys: Jonathan Davis.

I've been tracking Davis, a 15th-round pick out of the University of Central Arkansas since his draft year when I visited Bluefield for the first time in 2013. Davis impressed me with his maturity at the plate as well as his strong wrists that gave him more power than you might think seeing his 5-foot-8, 190-pound frame.

That said, Davis was never considered a big-time prospect but he continued to play well at every level, taking lots of walks and showing a polished all-around game that included stellar outfield defence.

Davis was really on the map after a strong 2017 in double-A New Hampshire and cracked the big leagues in 2018 with a September call-up in which he played in 20 games with 27 plate appearances. He didn't hit much (.200/.259/.240) but showed he could steal a base and play defence in the bigs. In 2019, he got into 37 games, hitting 95 times and posting a .181/.266/.265 slash line, stealing three bases.

Coming into spring training in 2020, Davis was competing with his brother-in-law Anthony Alford for a backup spot on the major league roster. He played in six games, coming to the plate 13 times and showed some power, hitting .231/.412/.615 with two doubles and a home run.

While spending most of the year at the Alternate Training Site, Davis did get into 13 games and had 34 plate appearances, playing semi-regularly when injuries kept guys like Teoscar Hernandez out of the lineup. He hit an impressive .259/.364/.444 with two doubles and a home run, stealing a base without getting caught. He did strike out 11 times (almost a third of the time) and he walked three times, getting hit by a pitch twice.

Overall, it was a solid season for Davis, now 28, who posted the best offensive numbers of his career in the majors (small sample size notwithstanding). He is likely in the mix for a fourth or fifth outfielder roster spot in 2021.

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