It is only a matter of time before the Mets promote Ike Davis.

I like Davis, I had him as the club’s fourth-best prospect coming into 2010, and think he should be the starting first baseman for the Mets in 2011. But this is another panic move, ranking right up there with moving Jenrry Mejia to the bullpen as a 20-year old.

Promoting Davis is more defensible than the Mejia fiasco but is still a mistake in my mind. Let us first look at why Davis is on the cusp on making his major league debut. He impressed everyone with a strong Spring Training, where he posted a .480/.536/.960 slash line in 25 ABs, including 3 HR. Davis has followed that up with a strong showing at Triple-A, where he has a .364/.500/.636 line in 42 PA. Perhaps just as important is that Davis has 9 BB and 5 Ks.

With the Mets struggling for both a power bat and a good story to keep the fans’ minds off their 4-8 start and last place standing in the NL East, Davis to the major league club makes a certain amount of sense.

So, why is it a mistake? Davis is succeeding thanks in part to a .385 BABIP in Triple-A. Right now he is making great contact and all of the balls are landing for hits. But Davis does not have a great history of making contact. Last year he struck out 29 percent of the time in Double-A. This year’s 11.9 percent strikeout rate is impressive, but how much of that is real improvement and how much is just small sample size?

We do not have any idea.

A .385 BABIP is very high, but Davis had a .381 BABIP last year in Double-A, so it is not completely out of the blue. A good hitter in the minors is going to post a high BABIP. But the simple fact is that a rookie in his first exposure to the majors is not going to post anything remotely similar to that lofty number.

Instead, let us give Davis a more typical .300 BABIP in the majors. Assuming the same number of at-bats and the same strikeout percentage, Davis would have eight hits instead of 12. That would make his AVG .242 instead of the .364 he sports currently.

And what happens if his strikeout rate increases (an extremely likely event) when he gets promoted? Simply, he will have to increase his BABIP to retain his AVG. Strikeouts are eliminated from at-bats when calculating BABIP. So if his strikeouts go up, those outs are not included in his BABIP. Here is an example assuming that Davis has the same 33 ABs he has in the minors, except that instead of an 11.9 K% (5 Ks in 33 ABs) he has a 24.2 K% (8 Ks).

In this scenario, Davis with a .300 BABIP would have a .212 AVG. Mike Jacobs, who had almost no expectations placed upon him, was considered a bust with a .208 AVG, and that came with a .250 BABIP. How will the fans and media act if the hot-shot rookie comes up and does no better (or shudder, worse) than Jacobs?

How likely is it that Davis will have a K% in the majors better than 24.2 percent? How likely is it that Davis would have a BABIP in the majors over .300? If the Mets promote him now, they simply are not putting him in a position to succeed.

Davis needs more at-bats in Triple-A to prove that his plate discipline is for real. He needs more experience batting against LHP. This year Davis has two hits in seven at-bats versus southpaws. In his minor league career, he has a .267/.329/.377 mark against lefties. If he struggles against LHP in the minors, they will eat him alive in the majors. And make no doubt about it, a .706 OPS is struggling.

As one of the club’s top prospects, Davis needs experience and a chance to break into the majors with normal expectations. If the Mets call him up now, they are cheating him out of valuable minor league development time and putting him in a position where he needs to “save” the season. It is another example of Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya putting their own short-term needs ahead of what is best for the organization.

Instead, the club should promote Chris Carter, who also had a very good Spring (.393/.433/.893 with 4 HR in 28 ABs) and is more than holding his own in Triple-A (.273/.333/.576). While Carter does not have the long-term upside that Davis does, the 27-year old is as good now as he is going to get. He will not benefit from any additional minor league seasoning and there is no chance to retard his development by giving him major league at-bats now.

By promoting Carter, you send a message to everyone in the organization that hard work and perseverance pays off. It is good to reward the organization soldiers and prove that you do not have to be a first-round pick of the team (Carter was a 17th-round pick and is on his fourth organization) to make it to the majors.

7 comments on “Promoting Davis now a mistake

  • Tanya

    Excellent post. I thought I was the only one who felt this was a mistake promoting him so early. I was saying they would be better off with Carter for now and let Davis develop more.

    As far as Mejia, he should’ve stayed in the minors so he could continue to develop as a starter. The Mets do not have enough starters in the minors.

  • John Strubel

    I disagree. I think the Mets slow start will allow them to accelerate what is inevitable (and hopefully a long-term soultion). Ike Davis at first base, Daniel Murphy moves to second base and Jenrry Mejia becomes a starter, maybe Fernando Martinez too.

  • Mike Koehler

    Don’t hold me to it in case I’m wrong, but I think the Mejia situation and this Davis case are different 😉

    Jerry pushed to keep Mejia, a very young starting pitcher, in the bullpen after spring training. Realistically, he is nowhere near ready to be a starter in the majors and he is far more valuable as a starter than a reliever.

    Davis, on the other hand, was closer to being called up in a best case scenario. Everyone had him as the starting first baseman next year, and it’s not like he wasn’t hitting at all down in AAA, or in spring training.

    I’m a little perturbed by the quick call up after Mets officials said they wanted him to grow less than a month ago, but I worry less about this move than keeping Mejia up.

  • Brian Joura

    John, I bet you a Coke that Murphy doesn’t see an inning at 2B and that Mejia does not pitch at all as a SP in the majors this season.

  • Frank

    I agree with everything you wrote, with one exception. Tanya, you’re not alone in thinking it may be too soon . This club announced he needed time and all of a sudden, he’s ready. Four days later? This indecisiveness could hurt him in the long run and even more so is a sign of desperation on the part of the Mets brass. They sense their jobs are now in jeopardy. Too many bad moves, too many collapses and they are in danger of being out of it before May. It all adds up to desperation.

  • John Strubel

    Brian: Game on … I am not as comfortable with Murphy suggestion, but if the Mets are still under .500 by July, Mejia will make a start.

  • Bassman

    I personally am thrilled that Ike Davis has been called up after a terrific spring. With the belief that we were going nowhere with either Jacobs or Murphy at first, I am very excited to have a natural first baseman playing the position with what appears to be a strong discipline at the plate, and tremendous power and upside. This is new blood from within an organization that does not appear able to take on another huge contract so I am willing to give Ike the chance and enjoy. Granted it is only two games, but he is looking sharp so far.

    On another note, I for one want to reach out my hand to Louis Castillo. Granted, he has made his mistakes in the field and has erred in his base running. But, he has been making strong plays so far this year at second and bats for a more than decent average. Eventually we will get a stronger player in that position, but the guy appears to be trying and is not half bad. He will always be remembered for the Yankee game, but he is man enough to move on and so should we since we stuck with each other for now.

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