Sitting down with PawSox Coach, Chili Davis

In his first spring training as a hitting coach and his first season in the Red Sox organization, Chili Davis has spent much of this spring getting to know the players, especially those he'll be working with in Pawtucket. Building trust with them is his goal. It's a slow process, but a vital process.

"They're the ones that are going to go out there and they're the ones that are going to be critiqued, not me," Davis said. "My job is to get them prepared every day, mechanically, mentally, mostly mentally because we go through a lot of mental peaks and valleys in this game. In 140 or 162 games you're going to go through some ups and downs, and it's nice to know that someone's there to say 'Hey, I want to help. Let's work this out.' Sometimes it's not even batting practice. Sometimes it's just sitting and talking, and I'm hoping we can get to that stage."

Davis, who turned 51 in January, played 19 big league seasons, batting .274 with 350 home runs and 1,372 RBI for the Giants, Angels, Twins, Yankees, and Royals. Approaching someone with a resume like that can be intimidating to a young player. Davis figures he broke through that barrier when the players felt comfortable enough to kid around with him.

"I had to bring Lars [Anderson] some [of my] baseball cards just to show him," Davis said. "And he looks at the card and he goes, 'Man, those are a lot of years. You're like Father Time.' And I go, 'There are seven more years after that that's not on the card.'"

Looking back to his own career - selected by the Giants as a 17-year-old in the 1977 draft - helps Davis remember what the players are going through.

"Remembering that I wasn't flawless as a player, number one. I made a lot of mistakes as young player," he said. "I had to have things repeated a lot of times. So, therefore, I will try not to ever get frustrated because I'm sure I frustrated some people and hitting coaches in the past. But just realizing how difficult I've made this game as young player and as an older player how much I learned to simplify it and not expecting them to do it. Say one thing to them today and have them retain and automatically click by tomorrow. It doesn't work that way. Sometimes you will have to repeat it to them reminding them, and hope that at some point it will click and they'll feel it and they'll trust it and they'll use it."

Davis credits two mentors for having the most influence on his approach to hitting - Tom McCraw, who was with the Giants from 1983 through 1985, and Hall of Famer Rod Carew.

"I learned that I could trust both those guys," Davis said. "So when I worked with them it made things a lot easier. The key with these guys is the same with me: They have to trust me and understand that I'm here for them and I'm not going to tell them something as a guess. I'm not going to guess something and say, 'Well, I think.' If I don't see something wrong, I'm going to say nothing's wrong. If I see something, I'll bring it to their attention."

REASSIGNMENTS The Red Sox recently made their first round of reassignments, sending players from big league camp to minor league camp. Right-handed pitcher Stolmy

Pimentel and infielder Oscar Tejeda were optioned to Double-A Portland.

Right-handed pitchers Tony Pena Jr., Jason Rice, Clevelan Santeliz, Kyle Weiland and Alex Wilson, catchers Tim Federowicz and Ryan Lavarnway, infielders Brent Dlugach and Hector Luna, and outfielder Che-Hsuan Lin were reassigned to minor league camp.

Manager Terry Francona was pleased with what he saw from the young players. It's not a negative at this point for these players to be sent out.

"You get to a point in spring where, we've been really pleased with the amount of reps everybody's gotten, but from this point forward it would start becoming a little bit more scarce, which is unfair to them," Francona said. "The first group is always the younger guys, and they need to go get ready for their season. We explained that to them. I don't think they ever quite know what day it is, but they understand that it gets to be that time. So, those generally aren't tough conversations. They're actually more enjoyable because you're sending, for the most part, young guys on their way to get ready for their season."

Tejeda was hitting .375 with a home run, eight RBI, slugging .667 with a .423 on-base percentage. He was tied for the Grapefruit League lead with two triples.

"He was one of the funner stories of spring training," Francona said. "But he's young...He's got a smile that's about as infectious as you can get. He loves to play. We were really excited to get a chance to watch him. He's got a lot of work to do defensively and we told him that. There's nothing wrong with that. He's a young kid. He made a position change. But he's got some thunder in his bat and his body's going to continue to get bigger. He's a really exciting young player."

Francona also liked what he saw of Weiland and Wilson.

"I think both of them kind of fall into the same category," he said. "Young, good arms. Still refining their deliveries. They're both, right now, in starters' roles. Where their career takes them, we don't know. It could be in the bullpen. We always want to let guys start for a couple of reasons: One, it's hard to find guys that can give you 200 innings, and two, they get more reps, which is really good for their development. So we'll kind of see where it takes them. There's a lot to like. They just need more reps. But I think a couple, three weeks in big league camp can really serve them well. They watched [Josh] Beckett, [Jon] Lester, those guys, [John] Lackey. Did their stuff.

"And the same thing with the catchers. Lavarnway, Fed, they watch how [Jason Varitek] goes about his business. So, hopefully, it's a growing experience and they move down to the other side. The one thing we tell them is: The message is the same. It's just delivered with a different voice. That's the one thing we always remind them about is when they leave here to do the same. Go about their business the same way as they do up here."