Pirates Reach Minor League Deal with RHP Rookie Davis

The Pittsburgh Pirates have reportedly reached a minor league deal with RHP Rookie Davis.

The Athletic’s Emily Waldon is reporting that the Pittsburgh Pirates have agreed to terms with RHP Rookie Davis on a minor league deal.

The 25 year old Davis is a 14th round draft pick of the Yankees out of the 2011 amateur draft. As MLB Trade Rumors recently pointed out, Davis is perhaps best known as a piece sent to the Reds in the Aroldis Chapman deal. Here’s a complete look at his minor league sojourn to date:

Davis broke through into the big leagues in 2017, pitching 24 innings before having to go under the knife for hip surgery. A setback in rehab limited him to just nine minor league games as he was working towards getting back to the majors.

Perhaps the Pirates would like a look at his split finger fastball, a pitch that was new to Davis in 2017, one that was met with success.

From an article on Cincinnati.com:

The pitch has more dive to it, Davis thinks, and it sometimes has a bit of fade to his arm side. It’s still quite new – pitch-tracking systems installed at Busch Stadium had trouble properly identifying it in Davis’ two-inning relief outing Tuesday – but he’s pleased with how far it’s come. “That gave me a pitch to go to with two strikes that had really good action, and it’s always in the 83-86 mile-an-hour range,” Davis said. “I continue to work on it in bullpens.”