Davidson eager to be part of White Sox’ young core
He’s only 22 years old, he has a grand total of 87 major-league plate appearances, he strikes out a lot, and his defensive game still needs plenty of polish.
Besides that, new White Sox third baseman Matt Davidson is just fine.
Acquired from the Diamondbacks on Monday in a trade for closer Addison Reed, Davidson is thrilled to be anointed a piece of the Sox’ new young core, joining right fielder Avisail Garcia, first baseman Jose Abreu and center fielder Adam Eaton, a former teammate in Arizona.
“I’m just extremely glad and blessed to have the opportunity to actually be in a team’s plans like that,” Davidson said on a conference call Tuesday. “That’s what any player wants. Obviously, the White Sox organization wanted me so much to make that trade.
“Addison is a great closer; he had 40 saves last year. It helps a lot with confidence since they believe in me. I’ll go in with a good attitude, ears open and just have some fun.”
Davidson said his goal is emerging from spring training as the Sox’ starting third baseman, but he’s realistic and realizes some additional minor-league seasoning at Class AAA Charlotte might be in order.
“I just have to take care of what I need to take care of,” he said. “Hopefully everything goes well. I trust whatever decision they make. The long-term goal is obviously to be there, whether it’s starting April 1 or June or even if it takes a full year. I just know that when I get there, I want to stick in the big leagues. I don’t want to be up and down.”
Cutting down on strikeouts and improving his defense are two major goals for Davidson.
While the 6-foot-2, 225-pounder hit 60 home runs in 385 games the past three seasons with Class A Visalia, AA Mobile and AAA Reno, he also struck out 407 times in 1,464 at-bats.
“I don’t want to be a guy who strikes out that much,” Davidson said. “I hate looking at that column on the stat sheet at the end of the year, and I always try to improve it going into the next year. It’s more my approach that needs to get better, or just more consistent, where I just need to be able to trust it and stick with that rather than just kind of getting out if it and trying to do too much or trying to do something else.”
Defensively, Davidson was primarily a high school pitcher in Yucaipa, Calif. He moved to third base in the minor leagues after being the 35th overall pick in the 2009 draft.
“When I came out of high school I was horrible,” Davidson said. “Even from the start, diving, I hadn’t dove for a ball. I had to learn. Now when I make a mistake, I can see why. I was just try to get as many reps as possible.”
While he has never been to Chicago, Davidson does have some interesting ties to the White Sox.
He grew up near Reed in California, and the two actually work out together in the off-season. Scott Snodgress, one of the Sox’ top pitching prospects, was a high school teammate, and former White Sox third baseman Mark Teahen also is from Yucaipa.
Davidson also said his mother is good friends with former center fielder Aaron Rowand’s brother. “It’s kind of a small world that everybody has those ties to the Sox, so I’m excited to see what the vibe is,” Davidson said.
sgregor@dailyherald.com