Khristopher Adrian Davis (born December 21, 1987), nicknamed “Khrush”, is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

and

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. The position is authorized by Major League Baseball Rule 5.11. It was adopted by the American League in 1973 and later by th ...

who is currently a free agent. He has played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

and Texas Rangers. Davis led MLB with 48

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s in the 2018 season.

Background

Davis was born in

Lakewood, California Lakewood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 80,048 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is bordered by Long Beach on the west and south, Bellflower, California, Bellflower on the north, C ...

. He attended

Cactus High School Cactus High School is public secondary school located in Glendale, Arizona, United States, part of the Peoria Unified School District. The school opened its doors in August 1977. It is the district's smallest high school, with approximately 1,3 ...

before transferring to play baseball at Deer Valley High School, where he was twice named an All-State player. During his senior season at Deer Valley, Davis hit .592 with 10 home runs and 50 RBIs to lead the team to a state title. Davis attended

California State University, Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public university in Fullerton, California. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

Cal State Fullerton Titans The Cal State Fullerton Titans (also known as CSUF or Fullerton Titans) are the athletic teams that represent California State University, Fullerton. The Titans are a member of the NCAA Division I level. The Titans compete within the Big West C ...

as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

, and

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute Batting (baseball), batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the dead ball (baseball), ball is dead (not in active play); the manager (baseball), manager may use any player who has not yet ...

. In his junior season, Davis hit .328 with 16 home runs and 58 RBIs. Khris Davis (489492761) (cropped)

Professional career

Draft

In 2006, Davis was drafted by the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

in the 29th round; he did not sign with the team but opted to play college baseball. He later was drafted by the

in the seventh round of the 2009 Major League Baseball draft.

Minor leagues

Davis began his minor league career in 2009. He played in one game for the

Helena Brewers The Helena Brewers were a Minor League Baseball team in the Pioneer League located in Helena, Montana, from 1978 to 2018. The team played their home games at Kindrick Legion Field, which was built in 1939. They were affiliated with the Milwauke ...

of the Rookie-level Pioneer League club and ten games for the

Arizona League Brewers The Arizona Complex League Brewers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Arizona Complex League (ACL) and a Rookie-level affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. The are located in Phoenix, Arizona, and play their home games at American Family F ...

; Davis combined for two home runs and a .237 batting average. He spent the entire 2010 season playing for the

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, a town on the outskirts of Appleton, Wisconsin, Appleton in the Fox ...

of the Class A

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

. He played in 128 games with 22 home runs and a .280 batting average. To start the 2011 season, Davis was promoted to the

Brevard County Manatees The Brevard County Manatees were a minor league baseball team of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League from 1994 to 2016. They were based in Viera, Florida, and played their home games at Space Coast Stadium. The team left Brevard County afte ...

of the

Class A-Advanced High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

Florida State League The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following ...

. After 90 games, he was promoted to the

Huntsville Stars The Huntsville Stars were a Minor League Baseball team that played in Huntsville, Alabama, from 1985 to 2014. They competed in the Southern League as the Double-A affiliate of Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics from 1985 to 1998 and Mil ...

of the

Class AA Double-A (officially Class AA) is the second-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946, below only Triple-A. There are currently 30 teams classified at the Double-A level, one for each team in Major League ...

Southern League; Davis played 35 games with the team. In 125 games that year, he batted .280 with 84

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

(RBIs) and 17 home runs. In 2012, Davis returned to the Arizona League Brewers and the Huntsville Stars for six and 44 games respectively. The Brewers promoted Davis to their top level below the Major Leagues with the

Nashville Sounds The Nashville Sounds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, and are named for the ci ...

of the

Class AAA Triple-A (officially Class AAA) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL ...

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

. He played in 32 games for the Sounds with a .310 batting average.

Milwaukee Brewers

The Brewers added Davis to their 40-man roster during the 2012–13 offseason. After a productive spring training, Davis made the final roster cut and made his major league debut on opening day, grounding out in a pinch-hit appearance. Five days later, Davis made his first major league start in left field and recorded his first major league hit, a double off

Patrick Corbin Patrick Alan Corbin (born July 19, 1989) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He won the 2019 World Series with the Nation ...

of the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The f ...

. After a poor start that saw him bat just .188, Davis was optioned to Nashville. Davis was recalled in mid-July, and after

Ryan Braun Ryan Joseph Braun (born November 17, 1983) is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played his entire career for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2007 to 2020. Braun also played right field and f ...

's suspension due to performance-enhancing drug use, became the Brewers' starting left fielder down the stretch. He hit his first major league home run at

Miller Park American Family Field is a retractable roof stadium used primarily for baseball. It is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, just southwest of the intersection of Interstate 94 and Brewers Boulevard. It is the home of Major League Baseball's Milwauk ...

on July 23 off

Colt Hynes Joshua Colt Hynes (born June 28, 1985) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays. Early career Hynes graduated Weatherford High School in 2003. He ...

of the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

. Davis ended the year with 11 home runs in 136 at-bats, with a

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

of .596. Davis' rookie performance was enough to encourage Brewers management to trade right fielder

Norichika Aoki is a Japanese professional baseball outfielder for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He previously played for the Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, Toro ...

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

and move Ryan Braun from left to right field, opening up an everyday role for Davis. After a slow start, batting .219 with an

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

of .250 and a

of.388 through May 20, Davis hit four home runs in six games. At the All-Star Break, Davis led the Brewers with 15 home runs. In 144 games for the Brewers, Davis hit .244 with 22 home runs and 69 RBIs. Davis was once again named the starting left fielder for the Brewers during the 2015 season and batted .247 with 27 home runs and 66 RBIs in 121 games.

Oakland Athletics

On February 12, 2016, the Brewers traded Davis to the

for

Jacob Nottingham Jacob Andrew Nottingham (born April 3, 1995) is an American professional baseball catcher and first baseman in the Seattle Mariners organization. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers and Seattle Marin ...

and Bubba Derby. On May 17 in a game against the Texas Rangers, Davis hit three home runs, including a walk-off grand slam for the third. This was only the second time this has happened in MLB history. On August 14, 2016, Davis hit his 30th home run of the season, a two-run homer against the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

. On September 18, 2016, Davis hit his 39th and 40th home runs of the season in a game against the Rangers. He added two more home runs to conclude the season. He also contributed 102 RBIs for the season, becoming the first player in the franchise to reach 100 or more RBIs since the 2006 season, when Frank Thomas had 114 RBIs for the Athletics. Davis hit two home runs in Oakland's 2017 season opener on April 3, the second Athletics player to do so, and the first since

Jason Giambi Jason Gilbert Giambi (; born January 8, 1971) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and designated hitter. In his Major League Baseball (MLB) career, which began in 1995, Giambi played for the Oakland Athletics, New York Yank ...

in 2000. Davis hit 43 home runs total in the 2017 season and contributed 110 RBIs, being the first Athletics player to have back-to-back 40 home run seasons. In 2018, his 48 home runs led all of MLB. He also batted .247 for the fourth consecutive season. His 123 RBIs were the second-most in baseball behind J. D. Martinez. For the season, he had the lowest

line drive In the sports of baseball and softball, a batted ball is a pitch that has been contacted by the batter's bat. Batted balls are either fair or foul, and can be characterized as a fly ball, pop-up, line drive, or ground ball. In baseball, a fou ...

percentage of all major league hitters (15.9%). In 2019 he batted .220/.293/.387 with 23 home runs and 73 RBIs. He swung at the highest percentage of pitches inside the strike zone of all American League batters (82.2%). In 2020, Davis continued with his struggles offensively, hitting an even .200 with only 2 home runs and 10 RBI.

Texas Rangers

On February 6, 2021, the Athletics traded Davis, Jonah Heim and Dane Acker to the Texas Rangers in exchange for

Elvis Andrus Elvis Augusto Andrus Torres (born August 26, 1988) is a Venezuelan-American professional baseball shortstop who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics and ...

and

Aramis Garcia Aramis Michael Garcia (born January 12, 1993) is an American professional baseball catcher in the Philadelphia Phillies organization. The San Francisco Giants selected Garcia in the second round of the 2014 Major League Baseball draft. He made h ...

. He was designated for assignment on June 8 after hitting .157/.262/.333 in 22 games for Texas. Davis was released by the Rangers on June 13.

Oakland Athletics (second stint)

On August 4, 2021, Davis signed a minor league deal with the

. He was assigned to the Arizona Complex League Athletics. After going 1-for-11 with the ACL Athletics, he was promoted to the Triple-A

Las Vegas Aviators The Las Vegas Aviators, formerly known as the Las Vegas 51s and Las Vegas Stars, are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. They are located in Summerlin South, Nevad ...

. There, he hit .333 with 10 home runs and 25 RBIs over 16 games. On September 1, the Athletics selected Davis' contract when the rosters expanded.

Diablos Rojos del México

On April 5, 2022, Davis signed with the

Diablos Rojos del México The Diablos Rojos del Mexico (English: Mexico Red Devils) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League based in Mexico City, Mexico. The team was founded in 1940 by Salvador Lutteroth and Ernesto Carmona. The Diablos Rojos play their hom ...

of the

Mexican League The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country. The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...

. In 12 games, he batted .119/.213/.167 with 2 RBIs. Davis was released on May 18, 2022.

Wild Health Genomes

On June 2, 2022, Davis signed with the

Wild Health Genomes The Wild Health Genomes were an American professional baseball team based in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 2022, they are a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, an MLB Partner League. The Genomes are owned by the same grou ...

of the

Atlantic League of Professional Baseball The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league based in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. The Atlantic League's ...

. He was released on September 16, 2022.

Personal life

Davis' father, Rodney, played in the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

organization and has served as a scout for the Dodgers and

. His mother, Sonia Davis (née Alarcón), was born in

Culiacán Culiacán, officially Culiacán Rosales, is a city in northwestern Mexico, the capital and largest city of both the Culiacán Municipality and the state of Sinaloa. The city was founded on 29 September 1531, by the Spanish Conquistadores, con ...

, but grew up in Ensenada.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Khris 1987 births Living people African-American baseball players American baseball players of Mexican descent American expatriate baseball players in Mexico American League home run champions Arizona League Brewers players Baseball players from Arizona Brevard County Manatees players Cal State Fullerton Titans baseball players Diablos Rojos del México players Helena Brewers players Huntsville Stars players Major League Baseball designated hitters Major League Baseball left fielders Milwaukee Brewers players Nashville Sounds players Oakland Athletics players Phoenix Desert Dogs players Round Rock Express players Sportspeople from Glendale, Arizona Texas Rangers players Wisconsin Timber Rattlers players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people