Brad Martens / SF Giants
SURPRISE, Ariz. — If it was a surprise, it was a mild one that Jaylin Davis was among the first cuts of Giants camp.
It has been a quick fall for the outfielder who burst through in 2019, when he hit 35 minor league home runs and then debuted with the Giants, who hailed his tools: a quick bat stroke, good power, excellent speed, good arm.
But after 12 at-bats and six strikeouts last year, he disappeared to the alternate site, the Giants citing his lack of contact skills as the necessary fix.
To Davis’ frustration, it hasn’t been fixed.
The 26-year-old is 3-for-14 with eight strikeouts in the Cactus League, falling behind Steven Duggar, LaMonte Wade Jr. and perhaps even Heliot Ramos in the pecking order. Ramos, the 21-year-old prospect who’s played 25 games at Double-A, remained technically in big-league camp.
Technically. It’s a strange purgatory Davis now finds himself in, having been optioned to a minor league camp that does not exist. There is nowhere for the reassigned to go, so all 74 players in camp will remain and continue working out.
Davis said nothing has changed in his day-to-day life so far, and he was set to play in Monday’s game against the Royals at Surprise Stadium. He was brief in a Zoom interview and said Gabe Kapler had delivered him the news Saturday with the same marching orders: It’s all about contact.
“Just a lot more reps,” Davis said he needs. “For me, it’s just trying to feel comfortable, getting back to being comfortable in the box.”
The frustration is the issue has not been solved. Davis pointed to a machine drill in which dimple balls are spit out and move a lot on the way toward the batter. “That’s helped a little bit,” he said.
Davis had an encouraging game Sunday, when he accounted for the two hardest-hit balls by the Giants’ offense and from the right-field wall started a relay home that nabbed a runner. Kapler called it a “good day for Jaylin all around.”
And yet, the manager added Davis is still a “work in progress at the plate.”
“What we’re noticing is that Jaylin still is looking to drive pitches in the zone and make a little bit more contact, a little bit more solid contact, like he did today,” Kapler said. “It’s a step in the right direction.”
Because of the lack of a minor league camp, Davis won’t have to take any steps away. And yet, the right fielder/center fielder is looking up at righty hitters Austin Slater, Darin Ruf, Mauricio Dubon and possibly Ramos. He’s here, but far away.