Wednesday: Is there Smoak on the Horizon?

In the comments on Monday’s post, there was a little debate over whether the clock is ticking on Chris Davis’ time with the Rangers. The speculation is due largely to the fact that Davis is striking out at a meteoric pace (he struck out three more times in today’s game) and that his approach at the plate seems slightly lackadaisical. He takes big sweeping cuts and seems to either strike out or hit homeruns. However, I agree with both of the arguments presented. The first is that Davis’ lack of production will cause the Rangers’ to replace him with hot prospect and first round pick Justin Smoak, who is also a first baseman. The second is that Davis is only in his second big league season, and that he needs a little more time to adjust before the Rangers close the curtain on him (plus Smoak needs time to prove himself in the minors).

The reason Smoak, despite his aptitude to hit like a machine, is being talked about as “major league ready” is because he was drafted out of College rather than High School. Smoak is already 22 years old, and almost ready to hit Major League pitching. Smoak’s situation and style of play bears much resemblance to Mark Teixeira’s. Teixeira was around the same age as Smoak when the Rangers drafted him, and he ended up only needing one season in the Minors before he was ready. Obviously there is a lot of expectations coming from this kid, but the same can be said for Davis. In an interview with the Dallas Morning News, Tom Hicks predicted that Smoak will be an All-Star. But USA Today predicted that Davis will be among the league leaders in homeruns this year. So there’s a lot of high hopes coming from both of these kids, and though Davis’ situation is slightly frustrating right now, I think he’ll get the rest of this season to prove himself worthy. Smoak is in a similar boat, as his offensive production this season will be telling as to whether he’ll be considered for the club in 2010. If Davis’ struggles carry out through the entire season, and Smoak destroys the ball in the minors, we may hear Chris’ name come up in trade talks during the off-season. But if Davis can somehow ease up on the strikeouts and raise his average, then the Rangers may wish to keep him at first next year and put Smoak in at DH, assuming Hank Blalock is gone.

I’m a fan of Chris Davis, and we all saw from last year that he is better than what he’s showing right now. Right now Chris Davis looks a lot like Adam Dunn. But when there’s a smoaking prospect heating up the minors, and just waiting to come up the big leagues, Adam Dunn-like baseball is not enough. Chris Davis needs to 'up' his game a few notches if he wants to stay in Texas. Then again, I don't know what's going on in Jon Daniels' mind. Maybe he's scheming something completely different. But regardless of the plans in the front office, it’s still a challenging situation for Davis, and I’m sure he’s just as aware of it as I am. But I myself am not ready to write him off until I see more of Smoak and what he’s really capable of doing.


Note: for those of you who have just recently started reading HWC, I'm Thomas Lowery, under the pseudonym 'the author,' which I mean to change if I can.