Folks, he’s back.

Per Andrew Destin, the Pirates are recalling former first overall pick Henry Davis in the wake of Joey Bart’s hamstring injury. Bart will go on the Injured List in a corresponding move.

Davis was expected to be one of several players called up by the Pirates once the calendar flipped to September, allowing MLB teams to bring up a pair of extra players to have on their active major league rosters, but he arrived a few days early.

Davis, along with prospects Nick Yorke and Billy Cook (both of whom were acquired at the trade deadline by the team), were the consensus three players needed to be recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis. There was just one small problem: that was three players for only two extra roster spots.

While the injury to Bart will hamper this team tremendously, it at least does fix the logistical hurdles that the Pirates had to call up all three, depending on how long Bart is on the IL for.

In any event, Henry is back, and will tandem with Yasmani Grandal behind the plate at catcher down the stretch. As for how exactly the Pirates plan to split the work between the two is yet to be seen, and given Grandal’s recent hot streak, it could be more even than you think.

But Davis has been hard at work in Triple-A, having spent the last two months in Indianapolis since being optioned back in early July. He’s played 34 games for the Indians, slashing .314/.378/.504, with 6 home runs and 26 RBI.

He’s performed even a little bit above that body of work in his last 10 games, which has seen him bat .333 and have an OPS above .850.

Truthfully, this is nothing new for Davis. The Bedford, New York native has a career .320 batting average and .988 OPS over his career in the International League; being able to handle Triple-A pitching has never been the issue for Davis.

It’s the major league adjustments that he has yet to be able to make. It’s beyond just the struggling to actually hit, it’s the incredibly high strikeout rate the catcher has produced.

In his 91 major league games, Davis has struck out 30.5% of the time. That includes a 39.2% clip in 2024.

Over the course of the year, however, Davis’ K rate has come down, gradually.

• In 23 major league games (March 28–May 1): 29 strikeouts in 83 plate appearances (34.9%)
• In 23 Triple-A games (May 7–June 2): 25 strikeouts in 102 plate appearances (24.7%)
• In 6 major league games (June 4–June 14): 11 strikeouts in 19 plate appearances (57.8%)
• In In 34 Triple-A games (July 4–August 24): 32 strikeouts in 153 plate appearances (20.9%)

Even at the Triple-A level, Davis has cut his strikeout rate by 3.8%. That’s not a huge decrease, but it is important to note that the lower rate also came in more games played, further amplifying the lower strikeout rate.

Strikeouts have marred his big league experience to this point in his career, and that brief six-game run Davis had back in June really soured some people on him.

Just watching his at-bats at the at the major league level, far too often he looks like he’s trying too hard. He’s trying to pull the ball, he’s trying to launch every pitch directly into orbit, and that often leads to bad chases and eventually strikeouts.

Some of that is probably mental; he’s a competitive player who eagerly wants to make his mark on this Pirates team and prove he belongs; meanwhile, in Triple-A he gets to focus a little more just on getting good contact and knocking the ball for bases.

The better eye he has shown during his latest Triple-A stint is the one thing he needs to bring with him back to Pittsburgh. We know he has all the tools to be a power hitter, it’s the patience and the eye that needs a little further developing.

One thing that will probably help that, at least for the remainder of this season, is that Davis has no real worry of being optioned again. He should be in Pittsburgh for the remainder of the season, even if Bart does return, so Davis can focus a little more on just the bat.

That will, in theory, help chop down that major league K rate. It’s already happened in the minor leagues, now let’s hope we can see that in the majors.

(Featured photo by Darren Yamashita/USA Today Sports)