NEWSLETTER
I could be totally wrong about this, but I think the tremendous upside in Brennen Davis’s bat sometimes allows us to forget that he’s also just a tremendous athlete. And while it’s the bat that will ultimately carry him to the big leagues as an impact player – that’s the hope, in any case – the athleticism is going to make him a heckuva lot more valuable as a baseline.
That’s because, so far, all the scouting suggests he’s going to be able to stick in center field, where he could be a good one, rather than having to move to a corner before he reaches the big leagues. And even if he moves later on in his career, he still projects to be – for example – a quality right fielder, rather than a bat that you park in left.
To that end, Baseball America ranked the top 15 center field prospects in baseball, and Davis came in 6th, behind only big names like Jarred Kelenic, Cristian Pache, Jasson Dominguez, Brandon Marsh, and Corbin Carroll, and ahead of guys like Robert Hassell, Taylor Trammell, and Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Among BA’s scouting thoughts on Davis, their number two Cubs prospect behind Brailyn Marquez: “Davis is a long, lean athlete dripping with physical projection. His long levers and growing strength give him plus raw power to his pull side and allow him to drive the ball hard up the middle and the opposite way. Davis crushes breaking balls, but he has had to work hard to get on time against plus velocity and is still progressing. He’s a fast learner who makes quick adjustments and controls the strike zone. Davis is a plus runner underway in the outfield and has a plus arm, but he projects to slow down as he fills out. He may begin his career in center field before eventually moving to right.”
As we caveat often with Davis, the actual on-field performance sample is tiny – just 50 games above rookie ball. A whole lot can happen between 2019 at that level and, say, 2022 and the big leagues. But the way Davis reshaped his swing, developed his physique, and then crushed a league far above his age/experience – there’s a reason he exploded on to rankings lists late in 2019. Now, with the lost minor league season, Davis worked at the alternate site, and we’ll soon find out how much more he developed. It isn’t impossible to see him get a very challenging AA assignment right out of the gate this year, where, if he struggles initially, you shouldn’t be too concerned. It’s also possible he’ll start out back at South Bend, which is now High-A, since that’s actually the next level in what would’ve been a normal progression. He’ll play all of this year at age 21.
