The Milwaukee Brewers current roster construction does not reveal a clear cut favorite third baseman or designated hitter. There are a plethora of options to choose from and right now it seems like the strategy would be to play whomever has the hot hand. If the front office wanted to eliminate that decision making process then they could consider submitting a claim for 30 year old J.D. Davis.
J.D. Davis was placed on waivers by the San Francisco Giants.
Up until San Francisco signed third baseman Matt Chapman the Giants plan was to have J.D. Davis as their everyday third baseman. The addition of Chapman has left him as the odd man out for San Francisco also has Jorge Soler as their primary designated hitter and LaMonte Wade Jr. plus Wilmer Flores as first base options.
Rather than retain J.D. Davis and pay him the $6.9 million that he was awarded via arbitration the team has placed him on waivers. Any team can claim him and take on that salary. In the event that he clears waivers then the Giants could release him and they would only have to pay a pro-rated portion of his contract.
How has J.D. Davis performed throughout his career?
Across seven big league seasons J.D. Davis has a career .261/.343/.432 slash line. He has been an above average hitter throughout his career but his personal bests in home runs (22), doubles (23), and runs batted in (69) are not very eye-catching. Defensively he has experience at the corner infield spots.
Should the Milwaukee Brewers submit a claim for J.D. Davis?
Although the metrics indicate that J.D. Davis would be a positive contributor offensively and he could solidify everyday at-bats as a third baseman or designated hitter with the Brewers, he may not be what they are looking for at this time.
All of Milwaukee’s big external offensive additions this year (Rhys Hoskins, Gary Sanchez, Jake Bauers) are power hitters. Their slugging ability should play nicely with the speedy prospects the Brewers will be deploying this year.
Adding J.D. Davis into the mix, who is not a big slugger or speedster, would take away playing time from a player who better fits how Milwaukee is looking to identify themselves offensively this year.
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