Three games later, Davidson plates five more
Austin Davidson isn't a big one for the home run trot."I don't hit a lot [of homers], I personally think, so I'm used to just hitting the ball and running hard," the Nationals prospect said. "I don't take time to look at where it goes and I don't stop running
Austin Davidson isn't a big one for the home run trot.
"I don't hit a lot [of homers], I personally think, so I'm used to just hitting the ball and running hard," the Nationals prospect said. "I don't take time to look at where it goes and I don't stop running hard until somebody tells me, 'Hey, you can slow down.'"
If he has a few more games like Wednesday's, the 24-year-old second baseman might have to change his habits. He went yard twice, collected five RBIs and scored three times to lead Class A Advanced Potomac to an 11-3 thrashing of visiting Frederick in the nightcap of a doubleheader.
Box score
Davidson posted the first five-RBI performance of his four-year pro career four games ago, but he's not ready to say this is the start of a trend.
"The trend is to see the ball. If that happens, for me, that means good things are going to happen," he said. "That's what I stick to -- I don't look at the numbers. If they come, they come, and that's great, but I'm just trying to see the ball well."
The P-Nats were off on Monday and rained out Tuesday. The 2014 13th-round pick wasn't in the lineup for Wednesday's opener -- which the Keys took, 5-2. He admitted that as he watched Game 1, it felt like it'd been a long time since he'd played.
"Honestly, it did. I was sitting there, thinking, 'We've got another one after this,'" he said. "It was almost like an All-Star break in the beginning of the season. The good thing about it is, every single one of these guys is mentally strong. We all come prepared and know what we have to do to feel like we're ready. And that's cool to see, to pick apart the brains and pick each other's games apart to see their work ethic is."
In his first at-bat, with leadoff man Jack Sundberg at first base and nobody out, the left-handed hitter victimized Orioles right-hander Franderlin Romero with a blast well over the wall in right field. It was Davidson's first long ball of the year.
"It felt awesome. I mean, I was kind of wondering if I was ever going to hit one out," he said. "I just try to hit it and run hard, but I saw it really well and I hit it with the good part of the bat. That was kind of the feeling of it.
"Anytime you get momentum like that, hitting is contagious, especially when you start it early. Sundberg right in front of me had a great at-bat and after me, [Ian] Sagdal, [Kelvin] Gutierrez, all the other guys ... it seemed like everybody was crushing it."
In the second inning, Davidson came up with runners on the corners and two outs. He quickly got ahead in the count, 3-0, and was eager to do more damage.
"It's definitely tempting because I was feeling good. You feel like you could hit everything. When I got the green light, I thought, 'OK, it's game-on,'" the Pepperdine product said. "[Romero] threw me a pitch I thought I could handle and I fouled it off. That kind of made me say, 'Get your pitch. You're still ahead. They've got to come to you.' He threw me a fastball down and it was easy to lay off because of that approach."
The walk loaded the bases for Sagdal, who swatted an opposite-field grand slam. Gutierrez, Washington's No. 18 prospect, followed with a solo shot. He finished 2-for-3 with a walk after drawing four free passes and scoring a run in the first game.
Making a mental adjustment paid off for Davidson again with one out in the sixth. Facing righty Mike Burke with two runners on, he stepped in with an aggressive mindset.
"I figured, 'They're going to be attacking us. It's late in the game. Just see it. Get your pitch,'" he said. "I actually started to feel a little jumpy once there were two strikes. I realized I needed to calm down and see it better. I saw it better and put a good swing on it. That one I ran a little harder because I really didn't know that was going to get out."
It did, again clearing the fence in right.
P-Nats shortstop Edwin Lora wasa 3-for-3 with a double and a run scored.
Lefty Hector Silvestre (3-0) came within one out of a complete game in the seven-inning affair, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out three.
Josh Jackson is a contributor to MiLB.com. Follow and interact with him on Twitter, @JoshJacksonMiLB.
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