For White Sox DH Davidson, better approach leads to more walks
White Sox designated hitter Matt Davidson's first half of the 2018 season has included a three-homer Opening Day and a 1-2-3 inning on the mound.
It also has included twice as many walks as he had in all of 2017.
Davidson's walk rate has jumped from 4.3 percent of his plate appearances in 2017 to 13.2 percent of his plate appearances in 2018.
How did it happen?
"I've just made it a point to really learn the strike zone better and make more efficient decisions," Davidson said. "[It's] having a better approach and knowing what you want to do, realizing that the plate is small and there's a lot of pitches that you don't need to swing at. Really just realizing that and watching last year and how I didn't draw many walks and saw that as a weakness."
His 13.2 percent walk rate is 18th-best in baseball. The increase in walks has morphed Davidson into one of baseball's top "three true outcome" hitters.
Davidson either hits a home run, draws a walk or strikes out in 53.9 percent of his plate appearances, second in baseball and trailing the Rangers' Joey Gallo (55 percent).
Davidson's 53.9 percent mark, if continued for the entire season, would be just outside the top 10 highest totals in baseball history. The MLB average is 33.9 percent.
"It's a long season and you take it one at bat at a time and slow it down," Davidson said. "We're all struggling right now, offensively. We can turn it around as a unit, just take it slow, keep getting base hits and not trying to do too much."
Davidson's improvement with drawing walks is a bright spot for the White Sox, who have drawn the fewest walks in baseball. The club's 231 walks and 2.51 walks per game are both 30th in the MLB. They trail the Kansas City Royals by three walks.
Shortstop Tim Anderson also has nearly doubled his total from 2017. Davidson's 39 walks lead the White Sox.
"We've got to be patient hitters and even if you can't get a hit, you can get a walk, get on base," Davidson said. "That's just as good."
According to FanGraphs, Davidson is swinging at fewer pitches outside of the strike zone, and making contact more often on pitches outside the zone than he did in 2017 (though Davidson's numbers in both categories remain below league average).
"You go through your checklist," Davidson said. "A lot of times you can eliminate by what you're swinging at. Those weren't even a strike; I couldn't even hit those anyway. I'd done that a lot last year and made that a point this year to work on."
Davidson's 35.9 percent strikeout right is second in baseball, also behind Gallo. He has 14 home runs on the season while hitting .220.
"Davidson puts together good at bats," White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. "[He] can still draw walks, still has the power to hit balls out of the ballpark."
• Twitter: @sean_hammond