Tim Benz: When it comes to onus of being a No. 1 pick, Pirates say Henry Davis will 'own it and wear it with pride'

The Pittsburgh Pirates are an organization that subsists on selling hope via the development and promotion of prospects.

So, over the years, the fanbase has gotten used to what it looks like. We understand what the excitement level is supposed to be for the debut of a pitching prospect like Mitch Keller. And how that gets heightened for a first-rounder like Neil Walker, Andrew McCutchen or Jameson Taillon.

However, there are those examples, and then there’s what it means to call up a No. 1 overall pick like Gerrit Cole or Bryan Bullingt…

Well, like Gerrit Cole or Henry Davis on Monday night.

A catcher out of Louisville, Davis was believed to have the best bat in the 2021 draft, and little has happened to dissuade that opinion during his run up the minor leagues. Before his promotion, in 183 at-bats this year between Altoona (AA) and Indianapolis (AAA), Davis had 11 home runs, 30 RBIs, a batting average of .284 and an OPS of .974.

During his first game as a Pirate, Davis demonstrated his skills to achieve those numbers are transferable to an MLB stadium.

During his first plate appearance at PNC Park against Chicago Cubs starter Drew Smyly, Davis patiently worked the count to 3-0 despite whatever butterflies he may have been enduring. Then, on a 3-2 count, he stroked a ball 106 miles per hour down the third-base line for a double.

FIRST MAJOR LEAGUE HIT FOR HENRY DAVIS! pic.twitter.com/h9D5JUXJqL

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) June 20, 2023

Davis’ patience and plate discipline showed again when he worked a walk later in the game and pounced on a 1-1 fastball that was smoked out to center field before getting tracked down for a lineout to end the eighth.

Those at-bats didn’t look too big for Davis, nor did he seem at all lost in his current position of right field.

“Honestly, I felt pretty comfortable,” Davis said after the game. “I’ve worked really hard for this, and I really trust my approach, whether it’s spring training, whatever level, the big leagues. I just try to have a good at-bat and help the team win.”

That’s about as long and in depth of a quote as we may get from Davis all year. He appears as interested with media interactions as you may be with phone calls from telemarketers.

A man of few words, Henry Davis talks about his major league debut for the Pirates pic.twitter.com/JwfsQDiscJ

— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) June 20, 2023

Outwardly, Davis’ low heartbeat and dismissive notion of pressures and hype associated with being the No.1 overall pick could come in useful. Especially as he jumps onto a Pirates team that’s careening in the wrong direction of the National League Central pennant race. The Pirates’ 8-0 loss to the Cubs during Davis’ debut is the franchise’s seventh in a row. And Davis is being looked upon by fans and the media to be a human course correction for this tumbling team.

But before the game, Davis wasn’t willing to allow his status as a former No. 1 overall pick to influence his own perception of who he is in the clubhouse.

“My job is the same whether I was the first pick or the last pick. If I’m in this locker room, it’s do everything I can to help the team win every day,” Davis said.

It’s clear Davis is going to great lengths to tamp down the narrative that his call-up is anything special. But it is, whether he wants it to be or not.

Related:

• Henry Davis' debut double not enough in Pirates' 8-0 loss to Cubs
• Fire drill: Henry Davis' family, friends scramble to see Pirates rookie make his MLB debut
• Promotion to Pirates comes at a new position for Henry Davis, who gets start in right field

When you are a first overall selection like he is, fanfare is going to accompany a moment like this, and that is not a bad thing.

How he handles that, once he is willing to admit it exists, will still be interesting to watch.

“Just slowing down. That’s really probably the biggest thing I would tell him is, it’s the same game. Try not to put too much pressure on yourself,” Keller said. “Obviously there’s a lot of talk around him, (being a) first overall pick. That can weigh heavy on you. So that’s the advice I would give him. Slow it down and keep it simple. Keep playing the same game he’s always been playing.”

Keller, formerly the top pitching prospect in the Pirates organization, admits that’s still a challenge he faces all the time, and it’s one Davis will eventually have to confront, no matter how “cool-as-a-cucumber” he portrays himself to be.

“I think he is going to own it and wear it with pride,” manager Derek Shelton said Monday during a pregame meeting with the media. “Because I think he takes a lot of pride in the fact that he was 1-1. He has not shied away from that at all, which I think is to his personality, which is really cool. And that goes back to the discipline that he has.”

That said, Shelton admits the Pirates franchise still has to be cognizant of helping Davis navigate whatever choppy waters may come his way, regardless of how nonplussed he seems to be.

“Organizationally, I think we have to help any guy that comes to the big leagues,” Shelton added. “This one, it’s been a quicker rise, so even taking the 1-1 away from it, it’s just making sure that he gets acclimated to what the big league game is, because he didn’t play a ton of games in the minor leagues.”

Nope. Just 118 in fact. But the first one in a major league uniform went pretty well.

I suppose we’ll just let the fans and media show more excitement about it than Davis did.