Former Athletics slugger Khris Davis hasn’t performed any professional baseball since 2022, and Davis confirmed in an interview with USA Today’s Bob Nightengale that he has retired from taking part in at age 36. Davis does have some curiosity in returning to the sport as a coach, however for now’s specializing in his new pursuit as an auto mechanic.
The Brewers drafted Davis within the seventh spherical of the 2009 draft, and after making his MLB debut in 2013, hit .250/.315/.494 with 60 homers over 1,142 plate appearances for Milwaukee in the course of the 2013-15 seasons as their common left fielder. Regardless of these strong numbers, the Brewers’ lack of success in 2015 led newly-hired GM David Stearns to commerce Davis as a part of a roster retooling, despite the fact that Davis was simply coming into his arbitration-eligible years. Davis was dealt to Oakland for Jacob Nottingham and Bubba Derby, which kicked off a really memorable run for Davis within the inexperienced and gold.
No participant in baseball hit extra dwelling runs than Davis from 2016-18, because the slugger went yard 133 instances over these three seasons. All instructed, Davis hit .247/.323/.534 in 1916 PA in these three seasons, which included a Main League-leading 48 homers in 2018. Jimmie Foxx and Mark McGwire are the one gamers in Athletics franchise historical past to hit greater than 48 dwelling runs in a single seaso and Davis’ profession 12 months helped lead the A’s to a wild-card berth and introduced the slugger an eighth-place end in AL MVP voting.
Davis turned such a beloved participant in Oakland that the A’s signed him to a two-year, $33.5M contract extension in April 2019, stopping him from hitting free company following that season. Remarkably, that is the solely extension the Athletics have given to any player within the last decade and this uncommon funding by the group sadly didn’t repay. Davis struggled by means of an injury-plagued 2019 marketing campaign and was by no means the identical on the plate, batting .216/.291/.376 in 746 PA in the course of the 2019-21 seasons.
The A’s moved Davis to the Rangers as a part of a really memorable five-player trade in February 2021, with Davis’ inclusion within the deal seen as one thing of a wage offset for Oakland to soak up Elvis Andrus’ bigger contract. In hindsight, that transaction has gone from being “the Elvis Andrus commerce” to now being referred to as “the Jonah Heim commerce,” because the Rangers acquired the catcher who has develop into an All-Star and a key a part of their 2023 championship roster. Davis ended up showing in solely 22 video games with Texas earlier than being launched and he rejoined the A’s on a minor league contract and performed his closing 20 main league video games in an Oakland uniform. In 2022, Davis continued his taking part in endeavors by suiting up within the Mexican League and with the Kentucky Wild Well being Genomes of the unbiased Atlantic League.
No point out of Davis is full with out noting his regular .247 batting common throughout the 2015-18 seasons, as he hit that actual quantity in all 4 consecutive seasons. Whereas it might’ve been becoming if Davis had completed his profession as a .247 hitter, he didn’t fairly hit the mark, as his profession slash line ended up at .242/.314/.491. Davis hit 221 dwelling runs and 590 RBI over his 3804 PA and 980 video games with the Brewers, Athletics and Rangers.
With reference to his new profession, Davis instructed Nightengale that he spent the final 12 months attending the Arizona Automotive Institute to be taught the ins and outs of being a mechanic, as a logical extension of his longtime love of vehicles.
“I’m going to get a job after the summer time and household holidays are over. I’ll be an entry-level tech doing tires, oils and lubes, every little thing,” mentioned Davis, the proprietor of 5 automobiles himself. “I’d love sooner or later to do tune-ups on road racing vehicles, customization, restoration, simply to be a part of a membership and go to automobile exhibits and simply take pleasure in that scene.”
We at MLB Commerce Rumors congratulate Davis on a high quality profession in baseball and we want him all the most effective in his new endeavors.
