Chicago White Sox: Matt Davidson Deserves Chance At DH

The Chicago White Sox need to see what they have in Matt Davidson and use him as their designated hitter.

The Chicago White Sox have many holes to fill before returning to a playoff contender, but one they need to fill this year is at DH. Jose Abreu, Todd Frazier, and Avisail Garcia should all see time as Chicago’s DH this season, but none are a permanent solution for this year or in the future.

Considering how long the White Sox have waited for Matt Davidson to be MLB-ready, now seems like the perfect chance to see if the former first round pick can play in the majors. Davidson played in 31 games with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2013, but has been in AAA since being traded to the Sox for Addison Reed that summer.

Davidson struggled in the minors, to say the least. He hit .199/.283/.362 in 2014 and .203/.293/.375 in 2015. He also averaged more than one strikeout per game, as he struck out 164 times in 2014 and 191 times in 2015 — a 35.3 strikeout percentage in two seasons.

He did show power, though, by hitting a combined 43 home runs and driving in 129 runs in two seasons, but it wasn’t enough to ignore his lack of plate discipline. Still, his game remained an intriguing option for the White Sox.

A flip switched in 2016, which could land him a spot on the 25-man roster this year. Davidson had a career-year in AAA by hitting .268/.349/.444 with 10 home runs and 46 RBIs in 75 games. He still struck out at an extremely high rate (38.4 percent), but he wasn’t a home run or bust hitter.

That led to the White Sox calling him up at the end of June. In his first game with the team, Davidson went 1-for-2 with an RBI and strikeout. Unfortunately, he also fractured his foot and missed the rest of the season. Therefore, the Sox are still seeing if he is a legitimate part of their future.

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Behind a good Spring Training, Davidson is fighting to be the Opening Day designated hitter. This spring, Davidson is hitting .245/.327/.490 with a team-high three home runs, as well as six RBIs and six walks through 20 games. He has struck out 22 times in 49 at-bats, which is evidently still a reason for concern, but he’s once again hitting for average like in AAA last season.

It’s clear that Davidson will probably never lower his strikeout rate enough to become an everyday player, but that’s not what the Sox are looking for this season. For the same reason the White Sox are giving Garcia another chance in right field this season, to see if he can turn his career around, is the same reason Davidson should start at DH.

On a team that already traded away one of the best pitchers in the game, and is trying to trade away their new ace, it seems foolish not to see if Davidson can play in the majors. Granted it happened in 2013, but his .237/.333/.434 slash line and three home runs with Arizona is reason for optimism.

Besides, even with all the strikeouts, how much worse could the Matt Davidson experiment be than the Avisail Garcia experiment last season?

Garcia hit just .245/.307/.385 with 12 home runs and 51 RBIs. With the way Davidson hit with Arizona in 2013, in AAA last season, and Spring Training this year, it’s more than likely he can put up a similar slash line, but add power.

For a team that ranked 22nd in home runs last season, and hit 19 below the league average, adding more power to the lineup isn’t the worst idea. Chicago also doesn’t return Adam Eaton and Brett Lawrie, who ranked fourth and fifth on the team in home runs, respectively, and combined to hit 26 last season, so their power hitting this year could be even worse.

Plus, Davidson is also an option to backup Frazier at third. With Frazier’s ability to play first base, too, it gives the White Sox a lot of different lineup options. It still allows Rick Renteria to have a DH committee of Davidson, Frazier, Abreu, and Garcia without leaving one of them out of the lineup.

The days of Davidson being a top-100 prospect in baseball are gone. He might only make the Opening Day 25-man roster because of his power hitting, but it’s not like Frazier did much else in 2016, either.

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If the Sox can still give Garcia a chance after multiple sub-par major league seasons, they should be able to see if Davidson can play at the highest level. There’s no point in watching him hit 20-plus home runs in AAA during a rebuild.

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