'Wish I could be helping my team': Pirates rookie Henry Davis 'frustrated' by thumb injury

Henry Davis wore a frown on his face and a sensory electrical stimulation device on his right hand, and both served as bad signs for the Pittsburgh Pirates rookie right fielder.

“Frustrated,” Davis said following the Pirates’ 11-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night at PNC Park. “Wish I could be helping my team, but …”

But Davis was placed on the 10-day injured list before the game with what was called a right hand strain, an injury he said actually involves his thumb after it was jammed sliding into a base during a game. He attempted to play through the pain before the Pirates finally took the bat out of his hands Monday.

“He won’t swing for a few days,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “It’s a credit to how tough he is as a kid because his hand’s been swollen, and he’s been grinding a little bit. We just got to the point that we thought giving him a little time away from swinging was probably the best thing for it.”

Related

• Josh Palacios has career-high 5 RBIs to win battle of brothers as Pirates pound Cardinals
• 'It saved us a ton': Lefty Bailey Falter pitches 6 innings in relief to earn 1st win with Pirates
• Pirates promoting No. 1 overall pick Paul Skenes to Double-A Altoona

The No. 1 overall pick of the 2021 MLB Draft, the 23-year-old Davis was batting .213/.306/.339 with eight doubles, five home runs and 18 RBIs in 51 games for the Pirates since being promoted June 19. He was struggling at the plate, batting .196 (22 for 112) over the past 31 games and .158 (9 for 57) in August.

Davis, however, refused to blame the injury for his scuffling.

“I’m not going to say anything about the results,” Davis said. “It’s definitely frustrating that I didn’t contribute.”

Davis described the injury as something that’s “been going on awhile,” and expressed his appreciation for the Pirates’ sports medicine team and trainers for their efforts to keep him on the field and in the lineup.

“It did get a lot better for a period, then it just went in the other direction,” Davis said. “It got to a point where not only was it not getting better, but I wasn’t helping the team.”

Davis has been bothered by injuries each of the past two seasons. His first season in the minors ended prematurely when he was shut down with an oblique strain. Last season, Davis missed two months with a fracture in his left wrist. He had stayed healthy this year, until now.

“It’s just a frustrating spot to be in,” Davis said. “I feel like I did everything I could to avoid it, but it’s just how it is right now. So I’ve just got to move forward, handle it and continue to keep pushing.”