Bucs moving Davis back to backstop: 'We believe he can catch'

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Henry Davis debuted with the Pirates with an outfielder’s glove, but he never put away his catching gear. He’ll be donning it again come Spring Training.

Though general manager Ben Cherington is looking for offensive help in the corner outfield spots at baseball’s Winter Meetings, Davis won’t be among the options there going into next season. Both Cherington and manager Derek Shelton made it clear they want him to focus on catching, at least for now.

“Henry’s going to come into Spring Training as a catcher,” Cherington said from the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. “Still believe the best outcome for him, for the Pirates, is that that’s what he’s doing going forward.”

It’s an interesting, though not necessarily surprising decision with a couple different facets. While Davis played the vast majority of his games in right field after debuting there in mid-June, he was a catcher when he arrived in the organization as the No. 1 overall pick in 2021 and spent most of his rise up the system there. Not until his final five weeks in the Minor Leagues did he start playing in the outfield.

Davis caught just two innings during his stretch run in Pittsburgh. He was on track to get more time there as the season wound down, but a right hand strain in mid-August prompted the Pirates to keep him in the outfield upon his return from the injured list in mid-September.

Davis rated at minus-6 outs above average in his first extended stint in right field, according to Statcast. That could improve with more work, but his offense could be more at a premium if he’s catching. He batted .213 in 62 games this past season with seven homers, 24 RBIs and a .653 OPS.

“We were going to go into the offseason or even September and have him catch more, and the injury kind of derailed that,” Shelton said. “Then we started to focus on [working] on it this offseason and into next year.”

The Pirates currently have four catchers on their 40-man roster, Davis included. Fellow prospect Endy Rodríguez debuted a month after Davis and played 52 of his 57 games at catcher, throwing out nine of 30 would-be basestealers and registering an average pop time in the top 14 percent of Major League catchers. He also batted .220 with three homers, 13 RBIs and a .612 OPS.

Second-year Major Leaguer Jason Delay played 70 games last year and batted .251 with a home run and 18 RBIs while registering some solid underlying metrics behind the plate. The Pirates then added journeyman Ali Sánchez last week on a Major League contract.

Cherington could use that depth to try to swing a trade and address organizational needs, whether it’s for another bat or for starting pitching. Or Pittsburgh could let the situation play out in camp, let Davis try to prove his value as a catcher, learn the pitching staff and move him out from behind the plate if the situation dictates such a swap.

“If at any point it makes sense for him and the Pirates to do something else [besides catching], we trust he'll be able to do it,” Cherington said. “We'll get to that if and when we get to that, but we believe he can catch. That's where the focus is going to be. We owe it to him and to us to find that out, and then whatever we do in the outfield will be separate to that.

“We just need to keep getting deeper and more talented. We don't want to get into keeping things open speculatively. We just need more good players. Let's find them wherever we can and build the deepest roster we can.”

Said Shelton: “Positional flexibility is really important to us, so the fact that Henry can play multiple positions [helps], but we’re looking for him to come in and primarily focus on the catching position.”