Davis stays hot at plate for Corpus Christi

This time last year, J.D. Davis was struggling to nail down a successful offensive formula for the Texas League. Now he's soaring at the start of his second turn through the level.
The Astros' No. 13 prospect homered for the third straight game and extended his hitting streak to nine on Friday as Double-A Corpus Christi improved to 10-4 on the season with an 8-3 victory at Frisco.

"It was kind of an up-and-down night," Davis said after going 2-for-5. "My second and third at-bats, I was really trying to look for a ball out over the plate. I was too aggressive, I would say, too anxious. I tried to calm it down."

Davis started his night on the right note with a leadoff single to left field in the second inning but was called out on strikes to end the third and struck out swinging in the fifth in his last matchup with RoughRiders starter Reed Garrett.
"The lefty [Shane McCain] came in, and he was pounding away," he said of his trip to the plate in the seventh. "I just tried to catch a ball out in front and I ended up getting one out over the plate and driving it to right field."
Davis connected on a McCain offering with a man aboard and sent it over the wall in right as part of a three-run seventh. The two-hit night was his' fifth in six games and pushed his slash line to .321/.406/.589 with four homers and 11 RBIs in 14 contests.
Box score
"Going about what I learned last season and applying it to the offseason, just working day in and day out off the tee, flips, working with a purpose, the results are showing," he said. "I kept the same mindset in Spring Training. I didn't try to do anything too big, didn't try to go out there and press anybody. I just tried to go out there and do what I can do, hit the ball hard, put the ball in play."
The adaptive approach is helping the third baseman erase the memory of a rough start in 2016.
"I had a really bad first month of last year," said Davis, who batted .172/.308/.219 in 18 games last April with the Hooks. "If you take away that month, I really flipped the script of the season. I only went up from there, and that was kind of a big learning curve for me. That was the first time I struggled. Like every Minor Leaguer, there's always a point where there's a little adversity or a little hump that you need to get over to get better to get to the next level. I think that was a big key, the first month."
By the end of last season, Davis had bumped his slash line to .268/.334/.485 with 23 homers and 81 RBIs and carried those lessons into 2017.

For Corpus Christi, it isn't just Davis doing damage by learning from experience. Former top Astros prospect Jon Singleton went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, batting ahead of cleanup hitter Davis. Behind the third baseman, Alejandro Garcia doubled twice.
"We had a lot of older guys that came back, so we know the league," Davis said. "We know how this league is tough to hit in. All of us, we don't necessarily get down. We don't get up too high because we know it's a pitchers' league. As a veteran group, we have an even keel. We try to have one in the clubhouse and on the field."
Corpus Christi racked up 12 hits, going 5-for-15 with runners in scoring position. Every Hooks starter registered at least one knock in the club's fifth straight double-digit hit performance.
Luke Tendler had two hits, an RBI and a run scored for Frisco.