The Yankees have signed outfielder Brennen Davis to a minor league deal, as reported by Aram Leighton of Simply Baseball. It’s not clear whether or not or not the deal consists of an invitation to huge league Spring Coaching.
Davis, 25, has not but made his huge league debut however was a consensus top-100 prospect for a few years. A second-round decide by the Cubs in 2018, Davis broke out on the age of 19 in 2019 with a with a .305/.381/.525 slash line in 50 video games on the Single-A stage. Following the cancelled minor league season in 2020, Davis bought the bump to Excessive-A to begin the 2021 season however lasted simply eight video games on the stage earlier than being promoted to Double-A. After hitting a stable .252/.367/.474 for the Cubs’ Tennessee affiliate in 76 video games, Davis bought his second promotion of the yr with a late-season cup of espresso at Triple-A, the place he impressed with a .268/.397/.536 slash line in 16 video games.
After dominating at each stage of the minors throughout his age-21 season, Davis turned a consensus top-20 prospect within the sport and gave the impression to be on the verge of a Wrigley Subject debut. Sadly, 2022 was not sort to the teen as he struggled badly in 22 video games on the Triple-A stage earlier than present process again surgical procedure in Might. He made it again to the membership’s Iowa affiliate in September for the stretch run and managed a .361 on-base share down the stretch however hit simply .188 and struggled to hit for energy. Even after that disastrous 2022 marketing campaign, Davis was nonetheless a consensus top-100 prospect within the sport and appeared poised for a rebound in 2023.
Sadly, that rebound by no means got here. Davis’s 2023 and 2024 seasons have been simply as harm plagued as 2022 as he contended first with core surgical procedure after which a fractured ankle. The outfielder’s brutal 2023 numbers (.187/.296/.279 in 62 video games at Triple-A) had been sufficient to knock him off each top-100 prospect record, however he did handle to submit sturdy numbers at Triple-A when wholesome this season. In 47 video games at Triple-A this yr, Davis slashed .214/.359/.469 with 11 house runs in simply 145 journeys to the plate and a 12.7% stroll charge, although his batting common was held down by a paltry .213 BABIP.
After years of harm struggles and given the membership’s extremely crowded outfield combine, the Cubs determined final month that they might now not afford to make use of a 40-man roster spot on Davis and non-tendered him. That led to him hitting minor league free company, and he’s now caught on with the Yankees. For New York, the teen represents a low-risk, high-reward flier who if wholesome might doubtlessly contribute to the membership’s huge league outfield as quickly as this yr. Aaron Decide and Cody Bellinger are at the moment locked into two of the membership’s three outfield spots, but when Davis can keep wholesome and show his sturdy energy and self-discipline numbers from 2024 had been a return to kind it’s not laborious to think about him vying for enjoying time alongside fellow kids Jasson Dominguez and Everson Pereira, the latter of whom is at the moment rehabbing from elbow surgical procedure he underwent final summer season.
