24
2011
Power Play: Could Ike Davis Be The Next Darryl Strawberry?
An article by 
It seems odd to compare Ike Davis to Darryl Strawberry. After all, Darryl was the #1 pick in the 1980 amateur draft, took home the Rookie of the Year Award in 1983, and is at or near the top of many of the Mets’ all-time hitting records. Ike Davis? He was known for being the son of former major league pitcher Ron Davis.
Other than that, he had a solid, but not overwhelmingly spectacular college career at Arizona State University. He wasn’t a big home run hitter (33 HR in three years at Arizona State), but was quite effective at using the gaps (69 doubles in 691 collegiate at-bats) and knew how to take a walk (on-base percentages of .387, .407 and .457 in his three years at ASU). Like Strawberry, the Mets took Davis in the first round, selecting him with the 18th overall pick of the 2008 amateur draft. The Mets were able to draft Davis as a compensatory pick when Tom Glavine left the Mets to sign with the Atlanta Braves after his “non-devastating” 2007 season.
Let’s dust off the DeLorean and take a trip back to 1983. Danny Heep, acquired by the Mets during the off-season for future Mets killer and scuffer extraordinaire Mike Scott, was the team’s starting rightfielder. No one was going to confuse Heep for Paul Bunyan (or Dave Kingman for that matter), as he had only cracked four major league home runs in 442 plate appearances prior to his trade to the Mets. Despite having only started 96 games in four seasons as an Astro, the Mets felt comfortable enough to make him their Opening Day starting rightfielder. It turns out he was only keeping the position warm for their 21-year-old phenom.
Darryl Strawberry was supposed to be Superman when he was called up to the Mets early in the 1983 season. The team was floundering in the National League East and needed a spark. The Straw Man became that spark, bringing excitement (but alas, not too many wins) to the franchise. He finished the 1983 season with a .257 average, 26 HR and 74 RBI. To this day, his home run and RBI totals remain the Mets’ all-time rookie record. His 48 extra-base hits (he legged out 15 doubles and seven triples) were also the best showing for any Mets rookie at the time.
Fast forward 27 years to 2010. Once again, the Mets found themselves in a state of disarray. The team had come off a disappointing 2009 season and had started poorly again in 2010. Mike Jacobs, the team’s Opening Day first baseman, was a two-tool player. Unfortunately, one of those tools was “swinging” and the other tool was “missing”. After registering more strikeouts than hits (7 Ks, 5 hits), en route to a .208 batting average, the Mets called up Ike Davis to replace Jacobs as their everyday first baseman. Jacobs never got a chance to strike out again as a Met.
Davis shed his rookie tag quickly, hitting major league pitching as if he were a 10-year veteran, when in fact he had only just turned 23. He raked left-handed pitching early and often and hit some of the longest home runs by a rookie since, well, Darryl Strawberry.
According to hittrackeronline.com, 15 of Davis’ 19 home runs in 2010 traveled at least 400 feet, with eight of them measured at over 430 feet. For the season, an average Ike Davis home run landed 415 feet away, which is the same distance as Citi Field’s furthest reaches. This year, the monster shots have continued. In the past three games, Davis has hit three more bombs, hitting a 456-foot blast on Thursday, a 424-foot bomb on Friday and a 420-foot shot into the Pepsi Porch in Saturday’s victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Speaking of the Mets’ home ballpark, in 2010, a total of 10 players hit home runs at Citi Field that traveled at least 434 feet. Nine of them did it once (including David Wright, Nick Evans and Angel Pagan). The only player to hit more than one 434-foot blast at Citi Field was Ike Davis, who did it a whopping five times. Simply stated, when Ike Davis gets a hold of one, no one on the Shea Bridge or the Pepsi Porch is safe.
So Ike Davis can match Darryl Strawberry with his ability to hit long home runs. But unlike Strawberry, Davis is not just a home run hitter. If you recall, Ike Davis was a doubles machine at Arizona State. That continued after he was drafted by the Mets, as Davis picked up 49 doubles in 677 minor league at-bats. After his call-up to the big leagues, Davis continued to mash the ball into Citi Field’s spacious gaps. In 147 games with the Mets last season, Davis picked up 33 two-base hits. As a comparison, Darryl Strawberry NEVER hit as many as 33 doubles in a season. In fact, only once did he finish a season with more than 27 doubles, when he hit 32 in 1987.
Ike Davis’ 53 extra-base hits in 2010 tied the franchise record for rookies set by Ty Wigginton in 2003. His 19 HR and 71 RBI were both tied for second most all-time among Mets rookies (Ron Swoboda hit 19 HR in 1965; Ty Wigginton had 71 RBI in 2003). The only man in franchise history who hit more home runs and drove in more runs as a rookie was Mr. Darryl Eugene Strawberry.
Since the days of Darryl Strawberry, no homegrown left-handed hitter has possessed as much power as Ike Davis (I don’t want to hear any mentions of Jeromy Burnitz). But Ike Davis is more than just a home run hitter. He can hit the ball to all fields, driving doubles into the gaps (his 33 doubles last season were only three behind team leader David Wright, although Wright had 64 more at-bats in which to collect those doubles) and he led the team in walks with 72. Ike Davis is patient and will turn on a ball when it is pitched in his zone.
Darryl Strawberry was the next big thing back in 1983. When he was called up to the Mets, there was much fanfare and hopes that he would bring the moribund franchise back from the chasm they had been lodged in since the Midnight Massacre of 1977. Ike Davis did not come up to much fanfare. He was never supposed to be the savior of the franchise. He is not even the main guy in the lineup. However, he does have the potential to be the best left-handed hitting homegrown player since the days of the Straw Man. The next time Ike Davis hits a long home run, take notice. You could be seeing the beginning of something really special.
About the Author: Ed Leyro
Ed Leyro was hatched in the Bronx, but spent most of his youth in Queens at Shea Stadium. Apparently, all that time spent at Mets games paid off as Ed met his wife (The Coop) for the first time at Citi Field during its inaugural season. Guess the 2009 season was good for something after all. In addition to his work at Mets Merized Online, Ed also owns, operates and is head janitor at Studious Metsimus, where he shares blogging duties with Joey Beartran. For those not in the know, Joey is a teddy bear dressed in a Mets hoodie. Clearly, Studious Metsimus is not your typical Mets blog.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 30 | .583 | - |
| Phillies | 35 | 37 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Nationals | 34 | 36 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Mets | 27 | 40 | .403 | 12.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 48 | .314 | 19.0 |
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Nice post, Ed. I have been watching Ike Davis since the day he was called up. This is a serious ball player – perhaps because he grew up in Ron Davis’ house and really understands what the game requires of him. He started impressing me the day he arrived with the way he played the game – by the rules. He is still listening to Dad, and that impresses me. His grandfather – the original ‘Ike’ in the family – played too.
The future is wide open for Ike Davis – and the Mets are very fortunate to have him.
I note often that Keith Hernandez is watching him very closely.
Great post Ed. Love reading your “Ed-isums”. LOL.
I am going to agree with you Annie with your statements. I think that he is definitely a very serious baseball player, and has a great future ahead of him. He’s a great all-around player. You usually don’t see that with newcomers (even though Ike has been in the majors for almost a year technically). He can hit for power, he can dive over dugout railings to catch balls, he can pretty much do everything imaginable. The Mets should be very fortunate to have a guy like Ike Davis, and i hope to GOD that they don’t even THINK ABOUT TRADING HIM because i think he could be the face of the franchise in the future.
I like the fact the kid is so humble. He has a ‘gee shucks’ attitude about him when interviewed.
We are now at one of the few “peaks” in a very long season filled with deep dark caverns of “valleys” do we really want to spend these few days that we of winning baseball comparing our undeveloped greatest hope to a loud, mouth lazy, drug abusing, Tim-Tuefell-bullying disappointment???
Can we just enjoy these few days of rooting for a winning baseball team without being asked stupid questions?
Lifelongmetsfan, the truth about Strawberry doesn’t sit well with a lot of fans who are into glamorizing ballplayers. Darryl was a talented ingrate who ticked off just about anyone who knew him. The Yankees had to have a full-time employee live with Darryl to keep him out of trouble. Strawberry came from a bad background and showed it during his playing days and for some time after those days. No amount of cosmetics can cover the terrible thug-like behavior Darryl displayed.
Gooden came from a much better home life but got caught up in the drug culture. He remained a kinder, nicer person. Other than their use of drugs, Dwight and Darryl are apples and oranges.
I have hear the story of how Straw and Doc got into drugs more times than I can count thanks to my father. The homelife wasn’t the original issue. Kevin Mitchell was. Mitchell got the two top young guns of the team hooked on cocaine. The rest was history. Lifer just needs to stop being such a debbie-downer. Are you ever happy?
The next Darryl Strawberry? Darryl Strawberry could have been a great player with a long career and while he had many good seasons with the Mets I think that even he would admit that he wasted so much talent and so many good years of productivity. Players like a young Strawberry and a Dwight Gooden were not properly taken care of by their agents or by the Mets and succumbed to drugs and alcohol. You could say, why didn’t a Ron Darling fall victim to the same? Education and maturity are the answer. This is no knock on Darryl or Doc but instead on the system. Young players should be warned and schooled on ruining what is a relatively short career span by their agents and by the teams themselves.
Ike Davis comes from a different background and will most likely have a longer career if he stays healthy. He is a good defensive first baseman, has good power along with a great attitude and plays hard. He should be a 30-40 homer guy, hit .275-.290 and knocks in 90-100 runs per year. He has only average speed at best but he should be around a long time for the Mets….
He is not however a 5 tool player like Strawberry was. Even with all of his flaws and mistakes, Darryl will always be a fan favorite in NY but we will always wonder just how great a player he might have been….
It is nice to see that Darryl has found peace for himself and seems to have straightened himself out and is free form the demons he experienced for so long!
There are some things that Ike will not match Darryl in, such as the stolen base numbers. But as far as raw power is concerned, Ike is right up there with Darryl. The majority of his home runs have been towering bombs, which were reminiscent of Darryl’s homers.
When Darryl played, fans at Shea would stop what they were doing to watch him hit, hoping to see a titanic blast. Perhaps someday, the same could be said for Ike. I know I already anticipate his at-bats when I go to Citi Field.
Ike will surpass Daryl in HRs if he continues to progress this way. Daryl messed up his life unfortunately with drugs and what have you but I doubt very seriously that’ll be the case with Ike. Ike will also hit 40 HRs, something Daryl never did. And I don’t hold the speed thing against Ike because he’s not that type of ballplayer anyway.
His first base glove also will help hold together an infield. I NEVER underestimate the importance of having a solid defensive first baseman.
Good post Edsimus.
Ed,
Very good article about Ike. He is rapidly becoming my favorite player and has been my wife’s favorite player since we first saw him play at Port St. Lucie. I remember a remarkable game he had there hitting two doubles off the center field wall in one game. That was impressive and set his name in my mind as a player to watch for in the future. That future appears to have arrived and we can now apprieciate his abilities every day. He appears to be improving over his last season performance with a higher batting average and is certainly showing no signs of any sophomore jinx. Ike is one of the few players that Mets fans can look to for daily excellence on the field. We certainly could use more like him.
Ike and Straw are two very good players. Ike has a lot to still prove, but he will be one of the top 1B eventually. However, Ike and Straw are very different. Straw was a five tool threat no doubt. Ike… not so much. I have trouble seeing Ike Davis stealing at all. Forget 20-30 SB a season like Straw had the ability to do. I do love the power though.