Ultimately, it wasn’t the first season in Boston that hitting coach Chili Davis longed for.
Davis has two World Series rings he earned while playing with the New York Yankees in 1998 and ’99. He really wants another one.
“More than one,” he said yesterday. “I’d like to be here for a while because I think we have a core group of guys here that can really bring some excitement to Boston.”
There might be uncertainty within the coaching staff since there’s a new boss in town, but why wouldn’t the Red Sox want Davis back again next year? They lured him away from the Oakland A’s and had to fight the Yankees for his services last offseason. And he’s been everything they could’ve asked for.
Davis helped spin quite the turnaround when he worked in Oakland, where the A’s averaged just 3.9 runs per game in 2011 before he arrived, then averaged 4.4, 4.7 and 4.5 runs per game over the next three seasons.
The Sox have averaged 4.7 runs this year, third in the majors, after averaging just 3.9 runs a season ago under then-hitting coach Greg Colbrunn.
They got off to a lousy start with the bats, scoring an MLB-worst 82 runs in May, but they’ve been a well-oiled machine since then.
“The toughest part was knowing that our team was better than we were playing earlier in the year,” Davis said. “We just had too good of a ballclub to be playing that way and not being able to get out of the rut we were in.”
It took time, but the Red Sox offense got rolling. They’ve had a remarkable six players with an OPS of at least .800 since the All-Star break: David Ortiz and five others who are 25 or younger (Jackie Bradley Jr., Mookie Betts, Travis Shaw, Blake Swihart and Xander Bogaerts).
“Will they come back next year and do exactly what they did next year? I’m not going to count on that,” Davis said. “I would like them to come back next year and have the same mental approach, have the same competitiveness that they’ve shown this year and take that into the beginning of the year.”
Davis felt like he clicked with most of the young hitters right away. He loved the confidence from Betts and Bradley. He was thrilled to oversee Bogaerts’ progress. He watched as Swihart learned which pitches he could swing at and Shaw became more aggressive on the first pitch.
“I was known for being too patient (in the minor leagues),” Shaw said.
Davis said he felt most connected to Ortiz, who became just the third 39-year-old in MLB history to hit 37 home runs, but things were different with Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval. Both finished with career-worst offensive seasons.
“I have not met one player on this team that I don’t think I can relate to, but it took me a little while with Hanley,” Davis said. “And it’s all about trust.
“This year, what Hanley has learned is that he doesn’t have to play the power role on this team to be effective and to support this team as a hitter. Because he’s a big part of this team, he’s going to be a big part of it and we need him to be consistent.”
Sandoval remains committed to his return as a switch-hitter.
“He wants to do it and we want to see him do it,” Davis said.
As a team, the Red Sox maintained the same patient approach they had when they led the league in scoring in 2013. Maybe it wasn’t working in early June, when owner John Henry said, “The way you win games in 2003 is different from the way you win games in 2015. And we have to make those adjustments as an organization.”
But the Sox have mashed the ball with the same old approach. They’re almost certain to finish as the most patient team in the majors, swinging at just 23 percent of first pitches (league average is 29 percent) while seeing about four pitches per plate appearance, most in the American League.
“The first-pitch thing I never really looked at,” Davis said. “I was a first-pitch swinger. If it’s there, I’m swinging at it. Over the year I tried to convince a few guys, if it’s there, jump on the first pitch. But you know, they do have a lot of patience. They see a lot of pitches. They battle through at-bats. They grind.”
“More than one,” he said yesterday. “I’d like to be here for a while because I think we have a core group of guys here that can really bring some excitement to Boston.”
There might be uncertainty within the coaching staff since there’s a new boss in town, but why wouldn’t the Red Sox want Davis back again next year? They lured him away from the Oakland A’s and had to fight the Yankees for his services last offseason. And he’s been everything they could’ve asked for.
Davis helped spin quite the turnaround when he worked in Oakland, where the A’s averaged just 3.9 runs per game in 2011 before he arrived, then averaged 4.4, 4.7 and 4.5 runs per game over the next three seasons.
The Sox have averaged 4.7 runs this year, third in the majors, after averaging just 3.9 runs a season ago under then-hitting coach Greg Colbrunn.
They got off to a lousy start with the bats, scoring an MLB-worst 82 runs in May, but they’ve been a well-oiled machine since then.
“The toughest part was knowing that our team was better than we were playing earlier in the year,” Davis said. “We just had too good of a ballclub to be playing that way and not being able to get out of the rut we were in.”
It took time, but the Red Sox offense got rolling. They’ve had a remarkable six players with an OPS of at least .800 since the All-Star break: David Ortiz and five others who are 25 or younger (Jackie Bradley Jr., Mookie Betts, Travis Shaw, Blake Swihart and Xander Bogaerts).
“Will they come back next year and do exactly what they did next year? I’m not going to count on that,” Davis said. “I would like them to come back next year and have the same mental approach, have the same competitiveness that they’ve shown this year and take that into the beginning of the year.”
Davis felt like he clicked with most of the young hitters right away. He loved the confidence from Betts and Bradley. He was thrilled to oversee Bogaerts’ progress. He watched as Swihart learned which pitches he could swing at and Shaw became more aggressive on the first pitch.
“I was known for being too patient (in the minor leagues),” Shaw said.
Davis said he felt most connected to Ortiz, who became just the third 39-year-old in MLB history to hit 37 home runs, but things were different with Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval. Both finished with career-worst offensive seasons.
“I have not met one player on this team that I don’t think I can relate to, but it took me a little while with Hanley,” Davis said. “And it’s all about trust.
“This year, what Hanley has learned is that he doesn’t have to play the power role on this team to be effective and to support this team as a hitter. Because he’s a big part of this team, he’s going to be a big part of it and we need him to be consistent.”
Sandoval remains committed to his return as a switch-hitter.
“He wants to do it and we want to see him do it,” Davis said.
As a team, the Red Sox maintained the same patient approach they had when they led the league in scoring in 2013. Maybe it wasn’t working in early June, when owner John Henry said, “The way you win games in 2003 is different from the way you win games in 2015. And we have to make those adjustments as an organization.”
But the Sox have mashed the ball with the same old approach. They’re almost certain to finish as the most patient team in the majors, swinging at just 23 percent of first pitches (league average is 29 percent) while seeing about four pitches per plate appearance, most in the American League.
“The first-pitch thing I never really looked at,” Davis said. “I was a first-pitch swinger. If it’s there, I’m swinging at it. Over the year I tried to convince a few guys, if it’s there, jump on the first pitch. But you know, they do have a lot of patience. They see a lot of pitches. They battle through at-bats. They grind.”
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