When Henry Davis entered Monday night’s game against the Washington Nationals at PNC Park, he was helping to make major league history.
After Paul Skenes’ pitch hit Washington’s James Wood’s toe and ricocheted into catcher Endy Rodríguez’s hand, the Pirates had to put Davis behind the plate for the rest of the game.
As soon as Skenes’ first pitch hit Davis’ mitt, the two became the first pair of first-round picks in major league history.
The Pirates’ commitment to a multi-year rebuild has resulted in not one, but two first-round picks in three years.
However, only one of them has managed to outperform even the most optimistic expectations for a first-round pick.
Skenes, Pittsburgh’s 2023 draft pick, has pitched 27 games in his major league career, with a 2.12 ERA, 0.915 WHIP, and 196 strikeouts. At the age of 22, he has risen to the ranks of baseball’s best pitchers and was named National League Rookie of the Year in 2024.
Davis, meanwhile, has yet to establish himself as a major leaguer. Davis was taken first overall in 2021, with general manager Ben Cherington selecting the Louisville product primarily for his batting prowess. Davis led the team in all categories during his draft year, batting.370/.483/.663. His 15 home runs and 48 RBI in 50 games ranked second among Cardinals.
“Obviously, we dig deep on this stuff,” Cherington said during Davis’ draft night. “You can evaluate his performance against better pitching and velocity. It held up extremely well, no matter how you cut it.”
Cherington also chose Davis for his exceptional vision while in college. Davis was the only player to have more walks than strikeouts among Louisville’s 16 plate appearances in 2021.
However, none of that success has translated to the Major League level. Davis had only appeared in 99 MLB games as of 2025, a remarkably low total.191/.283/.307. He had just eight home runs and 29 RBIs.
Now, it’s not all on Davis. The Pirates have hampered his development along the way. Davis played and was drafted as a catcher, and he was determined to excel in the major leagues at that position.
“I love to catch, and I love being able to contribute [to] every pitch,” Davis said on draft day. “So for me, doing everything I can off the field and on the field during practice — what I do every day to be the best baseball player and the best catcher I can be — is my goal every day.”
The Pirates used their prized pick primarily as a catcher in the minor leagues. However, when it came time for a major league opportunity in 2023, they assigned Davis to right field, where he had 18 games of professional experience.
Davis was called up in mid-June of that year and appeared in 62 games. He only used a catcher’s mitt for two innings of work that season. Having to adjust to a new position while also pitching in the major leagues was undoubtedly not conducive to Davis’ first-year success.
Last season, Davis spent the majority of his time in Triple-A, hitting.307/.401/.555 for Indianapolis. The Pirates chose to use him as a catcher during his brief major league stints that year, but he struggled at the plate, finishing with a team-worst batting average.In 37 games, he had a batting average of 144 and an OPS of.453.
Davis has never struggled with minor league pitching, but the gap between Triple-A and MLB arms is wide, and Davis has yet to demonstrate the ability to adjust.
Davis is the unfortunate poster child for the organization’s failure to develop major league hitters. Davis, despite being far from the only one on that list, wears the former first-overall pick title like a scarlet letter.
This season was always going to be a make-or-break year for Davis, and while the Pirates were almost certain to give him another chance this season, they probably didn’t expect it to happen in mid-April.
He resumed hitting well in Triple-A. But now that he’s back in Pittsburgh, he has one more chance to grab a catching job and hold on.
With Rodríguez on the 10-day injured list, Davis has an opportunity to secure a job in Pittsburgh and stay there. But he needs to start hitting soon.
Rodríguez was a versatile backup first baseman for the Pirates, but his bat was not reliable. He was slashing.Rodríguez currently has a 178/.260/.244 batting line, which is typical for the Pirates this season. However, he has minor league options.
If Davis hits in the majors this year, the Pirates may face a difficult decision or be forced to carry three catchers.
Davis hit his first homer of the season on Wednesday night. It was a promising start, but the Pirates need more consistency from him. One key area he focused on in the latter half of 2024 was lowering his strikeout rate. He began Triple-A this season with only four strikeouts in 31 plate appearances.
Davis’ progression includes taking better pitches and not chasing, but the Pirates need him to improve in all areas of the plate.
But Davis must do so not only for the sake of the Pirates, but also for his own career. If he does not establish himself in Pittsburgh within the next year, it will become increasingly difficult for him to reverse his situation.
