According to Jon Heyman of The New York Post, infielder J.D. Davis is coming back to the Angels. According to Sam Blum of The Athletic, it’s a minor league deal. It was earlier this week that the Halos had assigned him. He was outrighted to Triple-A but chose free agency, according to his transactions tracker on MLB.com. He appears to have made a new deal with the Angels.
In the offseason, Davis, 32, agreed to a minor league contract with the Angels. Before being called up to the major leagues after Yoán Moncada was placed on the disabled list, he hit.297/.357/.486 in 10 Triple-A games. Davis was only used nine times during his nearly three weeks on the roster before being sent, indicating that the team didn’t employ him much.
Davis has the advantage of being able to produce a potent offensive attack. He made 1,804 plate appearances between 2019 and 2023, hitting 63 home runs. Although he walked at a solid 10.2% pace, his strikeout rate of 27.4% was high. The cumulative outcome was a combined .268/.352/.443 hitting line for those years, production which resulted to a 119 wRC+. He did it while shifting between third base, first base and left field, though he was only truly close to an average fielder at first.
But the last year or so has been a little difficult. During the 2023–24 offseason, he and the Giants had an arbitration hearing. The adjudicator ultimately decided in favor of the player after Davis filed at $6.9MM and the team at $6.5MM. After signing Matt Chapman to take over at third base, the Giants placed Davis on waivers and terminated him since arbitration salaries decided by a hearing are not entirely guaranteed. Davis moved to the free market after receiving around $1.11 million in termination money.
In order to make up part of the money he lost as a result of the antics with the Giants, he signed a new contract with the Athletics that guaranteed him $2.5MM. A right adductor strain, however, cut short his time in Oakland. After being traded to the Yankees, he was placed on the injured list with that team as well because of a medical condition. The Yanks finally let him go, and he ended the season with the Orioles in minor leagues.
Davis had to settle for a minor league deal with the Halos going into this season because he didn’t hit very well last year around those IL stints, producing a combined.218/.293/.338 line and 86 wRC+. He’s not a good defender at third and isn’t a threat on the bases, so he doesn’t have much value when he’s not hitting. Dating back to the beginning of 2024, Davis has a.212/.283/.325 line, which isn’t great, but that’s a relatively small sample of 166 plate appearances while bouncing around to different clubs and dealing with injuries.
Tim Anderson and Kevin Newman are on the roster as bench infielders, but Anderson has only ever played up the middle, while Newman has never been a great hitter, and first baseman Niko Kavadas has only played 30 games in the major leagues. The Angels lack a lot of certainty at the infield corners, with Nolan Schanuel and Luis Rengifo taking the regular playing time at first and third, respectively, but neither is having a great season. Rengifo can also play other positions.
For the first time in a long time, Davis will travel to Salt Lake and attempt to find his rhythm. He will aim to earn his way back to the major leagues while doing so, giving the Halos a little more depth at the infield corners.
