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Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before reaching new heights. For the Baltimore Orioles, the low point of the season came last week when they were the victims of a no-hitter by Hisashi Iwakuma. Baltimore received the wake-up call it needed and responded with back-to-back walk-off victories against the Oakland Athletics. The Orioles displayed the resilient qualities that fans have become accustomed to under manager Buck Showalter. Baltimore is in the thick of the AL Wild Card race (a half-game back), but the Orioles wouldn’t be in contention without the robust performance of Chris Davis.
Coming into the 2015 season, Davis was arguably the team’s biggest storyline and question mark. After his 2013 breakout campaign, Davis endured a miserable 2014 season that saw him bat .196 and culminated in a 25-game suspension. It was difficult to guess which version of Davis we’d see in 2015–the 2013 stud or the 2014 dud?
Though he may never repeat his outstanding performance from two years ago, Davis is proving to be closer to those standards than last year’s debacle. He’s rebounded nicely this season, batting .259 with 34 home runs and a league-leading 88 RBI in the heart of the Orioles’ lineup. Davis is on a tear since the All-Star break, compiling a slash line of .333/.414/.814 with 15 home runs and 36 RBI, which is more than any other player in the second half of the MLB season. In his last 12 games, Davis is batting .386 with nine homers, 17 RBI and an astronomical slugging percentage of 1.045.
While Davis’ present performance is helping the Orioles remain in the postseason hunt, it also holds huge implications for the future. A free agent at the end of this season, Davis will be a premier power source and a coveted commodity on the market this offseason. Baltimore currently has seven pending free agents on its roster, including Matt Wieters, Wei-Yin Chen and Darren O’Day, but the Orioles should make Davis the top priority. The high price is worth paying because Baltimore can’t afford to lose another power hitter after failing to re-sign Nelson Cruz last winter.
The Orioles need to do everything they can to keep the big slugger in Baltimore, or else the team’s performance could see a significant decline in the following seasons.
Ben Linton is a MLB writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @Ben_Linton91, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.
