J.D. Davis is expected to get most of his playing time in left field during the 2020 season, but it appears spring training will be an exception to that.

As detailed by Mike Puma of the New York Post, Gary DiSarcina and the Mets plan to have Davis get 50% of his playing time at the hot corner in spring training.

After working on staying more upright instead of crouching while also improving his throwing, the organization wants to see if Davis can actually improve.

“He needs reps in a game, and he’s going to fail,” DiSarcina said. “His first couple of spring games he might make two or three errors because he is trying something new, trying to incorporate a new technique into his game, and he’s going to have some rough spots, and it’s up to us as an organization to kind of deal with that. I just don’t want him falling back on his old habits of getting too low.”

“He would rush throws and try to show everybody how good of an arm he had,” DiSarcina added. “…I am so proud of him since Sacramento he’s worked on his footwork and ability to get under control instead of constantly throwing on the run and trying to throw it as hard as he can.”

Offensively, Davis was phenomenal and broke out in his first season Flushing as he hit .307/.369/.527 with 22 home runs, 57 RBI, and a 136 wRC+ over 453 plate appearances.

The 26-year-old struggled defensively in left field and third base, though. At the hot corner, he fared badly in terms of DRS (-9 in 220 innings), but his OAA (+1) actually exemplified he might have been better at third than he was originally thought to be.

“Every coach had told me to try to stay low to the ground, so we basically flipped it to more of a tennis player being on the receiving end,” Davis said Tuesday.

“I’m a little more upright, and it’s helped me kind of do a small jump before the ball comes to home plate and that way my feet are more set on the ground, and that has helped me out with my reaction time of reading baseballs and reading tough hops, and it’s been working out perfect for me at least for that situation.”

As Puma notes in the article, Jeff McNeil will likely play second base on days Robinson Cano needs rest which could open up playing time for Davis at third base in 2020.