When the Pittsburgh Pirates took Henry Davis with the first pick in the 2021 draft out of Louisville, the general consensus was that his bat was going to play, but there were questions whether or not he would stick behind the plate. Davis was considered the clear top pick in that draft with his power being the main reason because of that. There was all of that potential out of Louisville, but Pirates fans have not seen him put it all together just yet.
The initial returns on Davis through the early
part of his career were in line with that consensus. His bat got him all the way to the big leagues, but when he made his Pirates debut in 2023, it was not as a catcher but in the outfield. In the very beginning of his MLB career, he was playing right field. It was a failed experiment to put him in the outfield over his main position, and we saw him struggle at the plate as well.
Davis hit just .213 with a .653 OPS in 62 games during his rookie season. With 49 of those games played in right field. He also played 11 games as a designated hitter. He only played two innings at catcher during his rookie campaign.
When Davis returned to the big leagues for 37 games in 2024, he did so as a catcher, but his struggles on both sides of the ball continued. Davis registered minus-four defensive runs saved and was a below-average pitch framer. At the plate, he only hit .144 with a .453 OPS and just one home run in 122 plate appearances.
In the 2025 season, Davis became a top defender behind the plate. The 26-year-old had eight defensive runs saved in 83 games at catcher last season and had a healthy 28.2% caught stealing rate. Davis always possessed a strong arm and a quick pop time, but he was finally able to put all of it together to see great results from behind the plate.
In 87 games this past season, Davis hit for 167/.234/.278 with seven doubles, seven home runs and 22 RBI. Those are disappointing numbers compared to what he did in his final season at Louisville, where he hit 15 HRs, 45 RBIs and had a .370 batting average.
Davis has had improvement defensively, but his power that we saw him have in college is not there. The Pirates drafted him first overall now four years ago and we haven’t seen any consistency from him. You draft players that high with hopes they can become the face of the franchise and that you can build a team around them but he has been off and on in the lineup and is normally placed towards the bottom of the batting lineup. When you draft someone first overall you hope that they can make a quick and immediate impact and we just haven’t seen that yet from Davis.
It is very rare to see someone make an immediate impact like how Paul Sekenes did for us but you still want to see something. The potential in Henry Davis is very high and we should have some patience in him, but with the offense being a huge struggle last season, we need to start to see players step up, and one of the guys is Henry Daivs. I am all for being patient and I want him to succeed and be the reason that the Bucs snap their playoff drought, but If we see another disappointing offensive season from Davis, the Bucs need to start having a conversation that the former first overall pick is a bust.
