As John Flanigan started our series on Monday, each of the editors on the site will be picking one player to keep an eye on in Spring Training. For today, I chose to go with J.D. Davis,

The Mets traded for the infielder/outfielder from the Houston Astros one day after acquiring Keon Broxton, giving up Luis Santana, Ross Adolph, and Scott Manea to get him and infielder Cody Bohanek.

Davis, 25, has had a very strange career to date, at one point ranking as a top prospect in the Astros’ organization. However, he struggled to find a niche role on the team given the presence of Alex Bregman at third base and the fact that Davis’ natural position was third as well.

As a result, the team has had to use Davis in more of a utility role as he played across the diamond at third, first, and left field while also even making a couple of pitching appearances in 67 games played spread over two years.

The fact that he has made some pitching appearances is quite interesting, though, as he has proven capable of hitting 92 MPH as a reliever in the big leagues and was actually a reliever with regularity in college.

As of now, the plan is not for Davis to pitch for the Mets due to Mickey Callaway‘s preference that he focus on improving other aspects of his game.

“We know he can pitch, I understand that, but I really want him to concentrate on the outfield getting comfortable at both corner spots and the infield.”

That being said, Davis is certainly not opposed to trying out being a reliever once again as detailed by Mike Puma of the New York Post.

“I am not going to be itching to get on the mound and show anybody what I can do, but if they need me to throw a bullpen or throw on flat ground, I am not against it. It’s just one more little tool to wear around my belt. ”

“If Mick wants me to pitch and I have an opportunity to save the bullpen five innings on the year — I don’t know, 10, I have no idea. I can go out there and pitch and try to sling it, throw it as hard as I can and at least throw strikes, but right now, I am just concentrating on defense and hitting.”

Given his struggles to break out at the MLB level so far (slashing .175/.248/.223 with one homer and five RBI in 2018), many wonder whether he will ever become the power hitter they thought he would be.

However, his presence behind Bregman made it quite difficult for him, as previously mentioned, and he was absolutely phenomenal in Triple-A last season.  In 85 games, Davis hit .342/.406/.583 with 17 home runs and 81 RBI to give himself a 156 wRC+.

One thing working against him, though, is the fact that the Mets are not exactly short on depth themselves given the fact that the team has even had to move Jeff McNeil to the outfield to find him at-bats this season.

Currently, Todd Frazier is set to play first base (eventually Peter Alonso), Jed Lowrie is set to play third base, and Jeff McNeil is set to play left field.

He also has no shortage of competition for a bench spot as Juan Lagares, Keon Broxton, and Travis d’Arnaud are pretty much certain to make the roster. The last spot or two (depending on how many pitchers they choose to carry) will then come down Davis, Dominic Smith, T.J. Rivera, Adeiny Hechavarria, and Luis Guillorme.

As previously mentioned, once Alonso comes up, that will kick someone else off the roster, either eliminating all of those options from the MLB roster at that point or reducing it to only one of those players.

Davis’ versatility does work in his favor in this regard as the Mets appear to be valuing versatility more than they have in the past. That being said, it will be interesting to see if he will be able to impress enough to earn the playing time he likely would need to have a big impact a the major league level in 2019.