Davidson no longer focused on last season's failure
GLENDALE, Ariz. - Baseball is widely regarded as a thinking man's game, but Matt Davidson was guilty of getting lost in too many negative thoughts last season.
Regarded as the White Sox' starting third baseman of the future the instant he was acquired in a straight-up trade from the Diamondbacks for established closer Addison Reed on Dec. 16, 2013, Davidson proceeded to struggle badly during a full season with Class AAA Charlotte.
"Last year I was really trying to impress a lot and I was completely results-based where, when I finally got to the season, I basically had nothing to fall back on," Davidson said. "I didn't have a strong foundation. That's what spring training is. Build a foundation of mechanics and thought processes of what we want to go into the season for, where I was trying to win a job and I basically was all results-based.
"I struggled but then I started getting results at the end of spring (training). That's kind of all I was based on. So I went into the season and all of a sudden, the results weren't coming and I had nothing to fall back on. I kind of just lost it from there."
Davidson was able to show he had the power the Sox were looking for, and his 20 home runs were the fourth most in the International League.
But Davidson's .199 batting average for Charlotte ranked dead last in the league, and he topped the IL with 164 strikeouts.
"Last year, it's not fun driving to the park and struggling day in and day out when it's something you are not used to," Davidson said.
Looking back on 2014, Davidson was overwhelmed by a combination of the trade from Arizona, getting married, struggling for the first time at any level of play and having a baby girl.
"I don't want to make excuses," said Davidson, a 6-foot-2, 225-pounder. "Everybody eventually in this room is going to get married or have a kid. That's something we all have to go through. Personally, as a person, I wasn't mature enough to deal with all of those things, and especially all at once, so I had a lot of growing up to do.
"I always thought I was kind of mature, but not really in the parent and getting married aspect. I had to grow a lot into that, which was fun. It really grew my wife's and my relationship a lot deeper, going through something as hard as that."
While he floundered with Charlotte, Davidson leaned on teammates like first baseman Andy Wilkins, who led the IL with 30 homers before joining the White Sox in September.
"It is such a results based game, but I've gone through many struggles myself and it was something I could relate to with him," Wilkins said. "I told him, 'This might be the best year you've ever had.' He's a young kid, and when you struggle like that it teaches you a lot about yourself. I firmly believe a man becomes a man when he goes through failure.
"Anybody can be at their best, be a good guy, whatever, when everything's going good. The real inner self comes out when you're struggling. That was my message to him."
Davidson took Wilkins' message to heart, and when he returned home to Yucaipa, Calif., in the off-season, he erased the miserable memory.
"I just had a good off-season and enjoyed it," Davidson said. "Had a daughter (Brixton) and enjoyed it with my family. I went back home, went back home to my roots. I would just kind of hang out at the high school field and remember who I was and build that confidence up and remember that I was a good player because it's really hard to look at the scoreboard every day and actually believe in yourself, which was something I never went through growing up.
"I've always succeeded every level I've been at. I never went through the adversity.
Last spring, Davidson's goal was not only to win the Sox' starting job at third base but become a "great" player for an extended run.
This spring, he has no goals.
"It was very humbling," Davidson said. "I'm going to come here, put my head down and enjoy myself. Last year, this jersey with the Sox logo on it and my name on the back felt nonexistent, like I would never reach it. To kind of come back here with the same number (22) and see it, it's a really cool experience to just play this game of baseball.
"Last year, I felt like it was gone, which was a very scary feeling that I've never felt before. I took things for granted for sure. I'm loving baseball again. That's the biggest thing."
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