Rajai Davis

Rajai Lavae Davis (/ˈrɑːʒeɪ ˈdeɪvᵻs/; born October 19, 1980) is an American professional baseball outfielder who is currently a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, Detroit Tigers, and Cleveland Indians.

Davis began his career as a switch-hitter, but became a full-time right-handed hitter prior to the 2004 season. He also throws right-handed.^[1]

Early life

Davis was born in Norwich, Connecticut, on October 19, 1980. He played Little League Baseball in Willimantic, Connecticut, for the Willimantic Fire Fighters. In 1991, Davis helped the Willimantic Little League All-Star Team win the District 11 championship. Rajai also played in the Willimantic Youth Football League.

In 1999, Davis graduated from New London High School where he earned letters playing baseball, basketball, and football.^[2] During the summer he was a member of the New London American Legion team.

After high school, Davis attended the University of Connecticut at Avery Point of the NJCAA in Groton.^[1] While in college, Davis played for the New England Collegiate Baseball League's Middletown Giants (now the Futures Collegiate Baseball League's North Shore Navigators).

Professional career

Minor leagues

Davis was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 38th round (1,134th overall) of the 2001 Major League Baseball Draft as a second baseman.^[3] He played six full minor league seasons before making his major league debut. He had a .305 career minor league batting average to go along with 251 stolen bases in 322 attempts. In addition, Davis made three consecutive All-Star appearance at three different levels of play from 2002 to 2004.^[4]

Major leagues

Pittsburgh Pirates

Davis made his major league debut for the Pirates on August 14, 2006, going 0-for-1 in a pinch hit appearance against the Milwaukee Brewers. He stole his first base two days later, but did not get his first Major League hit for another two weeks. It came on August 29, in the form of a pinch hit double off Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano. He made his first and only defensive appearance of 2006 the next day, playing three innings in right field.^[1]

San Francisco Giants

Davis was traded to the San Francisco Giants with pitcher Stephen MacFarland on July 31, 2007, for Matt Morris.^[5] He made his Giants debut the next night against the Los Angeles Dodgers, stealing a base and throwing out a runner from center field.^[6] In his time with the Giants, Davis was a semi-regular in the Giants lineup, filling in for Dave Roberts or Barry Bonds whenever necessary.

On August 13, the Giants played a doubleheader in Pittsburgh, which was Davis' first time back since the trade. He started in center in both games, going a combined three-for-seven, with three doubles, two runs scored, two stolen bases, and a run batted in (RBI).^[7][8] Additionally, in the second game, Davis made a spectacular diving catch on the warning track in left-center field.^[9][10]

Just three days later, he robbed Andruw Jones of a possible home run to end the game at Turner Field.^[10][11] Davis kept the ball as a souvenir.^[3] The next night, Davis hit his first career home run off Florida Marlins starting pitcher Scott Olsen.^[12]

Davis was second among the National League (NL) rookie leaders in stolen bases, with 22. The leader, Arizona's Chris Young, had 27 – but also had nearly three times as many at-bats as Davis.^[13]

Davis batting for the Oakland Athletics in 2009

Oakland Athletics

On April 23, 2008, Davis was claimed off waivers by the Oakland Athletics and was added to the active roster. With Oakland in 2008, he stole 25 bases in 196 at-bats. In 2009, Davis became the primary center fielder for the A's hit .305 with 41 stolen bases in 125 games, primarily in center field. In 2010 he also started for most of the season hitting .284 with 52 RBIs and 50 stolen bases. When Coco Crisp came back from injury, Davis switched from center to left and right field for the remainder of the season.^[14]

Toronto Blue Jays

Following the acquisition of David DeJesus, the Athletics traded Davis to the Toronto Blue Jays for Trystan Magnuson and Daniel Farquhar on November 17, 2010.^[15]

In a game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on August 14, 2011, Davis tore his hamstring running to first base. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list after the game. Prior to the injury, Davis ranked third in the American League in stolen bases with 34.^[16]

Davis during his tenure with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2012

On May 18, 2012, in a home game against the New York Mets, Davis had the first multi home run game of his career, hitting two home runs and four RBIs in a 14–5 win.^[17] On July 30 in a game against the Seattle Mariners, Davis hit his first career lead-off home run. The home run, his sixth of the season, established a career high for Davis in a single season. On August 12, 2012, Davis recorded five RBIs against the New York Yankees, establishing a single game career high in RBIs.^[18] Davis finished second in stolen bases, with 46, for the 2012 campaign (Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim led the league with 49).

Davis was placed on the disabled list on May 11, 2013, with a strained left oblique.^[19] After a brief two game rehab assignment with the Dunedin Blue Jays, Davis was activated from the disabled list on June 4.^[20] On June 8, in the bottom of the 18th inning against the Texas Rangers, Davis hit a single that scored Emilio Bonifacio in the longest Blue Jays game in franchise history.^[21] In a game against the Houston Astros on July 28, Davis tied a Blue Jays franchise record by stealing four bases, joining Damaso Garcia, Dave Collins, Roberto Alomar, and Otis Nixon.^[22]

Detroit Tigers

On December 11, 2013, the Tigers signed Davis to a two-year, $10 million contract.^[23] On June 30, 2014, he hit a walk-off grand slam home run against Oakland Athletics closer Sean Doolittle to win the game 5–4. It was the first walk-off homer of any kind for Davis in his career.^[24]

On August 30, 2014, Davis recorded his 32nd stolen base of the season, and his 300th stolen base of his career. Davis became just the second active player to record a 30-steal season for three different teams. Davis' 300 stolen bases ranks him 12th among active players.^[25]

Davis playing for the Detroit Tigers in 2015

In 2014, Davis played in 134 games for Detroit, batting .282 with 36 stolen bases. He was used in an outfield platoon in 2015, playing in 112 games. Despite limited plate appearances this season (370), he hit a career-high 11 triples.

Cleveland Indians

On December 17, 2015, Davis signed a one-year, $5.25 million contract with the Cleveland Indians.^[26]

On July 2, 2016, Davis hit for the cycle in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays. It was the eighth cycle in Cleveland Indians franchise history, the first since Travis Hafner in 2003, and the sixth player in Major League history to hit for a reverse cycle. He led off the game with a home run, hit a triple in the third inning, a double in the sixth inning, and finished the cycle with a single in the ninth inning.

On November 2, 2016, during Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, Davis hit a game tying, two-run home run in the eighth inning off Cubs pitcher Aroldis Chapman.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rajai Davis.

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Rajai Davis on Twitter