Davis made his first appearance of 2024 as the 27th player of a doubleheader, 24 hours after being recalled and subsequently optioned
When snow blanketed the Denver area on April 19, it caused the postponement of the Colorado Rockies’ scheduled opener of a three-game series with the Seattle Mariners at Coors Field.
The game was postponed and rescheduled as part of a doubleheader on April 21. With the twin bill, Colorado was afforded the ability to add another player—the 27th player—to the active roster for the pair of games.
Davis being tabbed to fill the extra spot came through a couple of interesting roster moves. He was on the Rockies’ active roster just one day earlier to take the place of an injured Kyle Freeland, but was then optioned to Albuquerque following Saturday’s contest. After that, he was re-added to the active roster as the 27th player for Sunday’s doubleheader.
As the designated “27th player,” Davis entered in the fourth inning of the nightcap and tossed three innings of relief while surrendering five hits and three runs with a pair of strikeouts before leaving the game with shoulder stiffness.
“I just started feeling a little bit of tightness in the back of my shoulder,” Davis said after the Rockies suffered a 10-2 setback to the Mariners for a split of the day-night twin bill.
Despite allowing three runs in the sixth inning — two via a two-out home run by Seattle’s Cal Raleigh — Davis was not disappointed in his performance.
“I felt pretty good,” he said. “Even the runs that were scored I thought I threw some good pitches in there. Basically, I did what I wanted to do.”
The call up was Davis’ first to the Rockies’ active roster this season. He has appeared in four games (all starts) thus far this season with the Isotopes while compiling an 0-2 record with a 6.62 ERA in 17 2⁄3 innings pitched. This kind of shuffling can often place a player between Major and Minor League Baseball with no clear foothold in either.
“At this point, you are just ready for anything at any time, especially when you are one of those guys that’s up and down on the 40-man (roster),” he said. “You kind of know that anything can happen up here and you have to fall in line to fill spots, pitch when needed and help the team any way you can.”
Such shuffling can also be difficult on an individual’s psyche and requires a disciplined mental approach.
“All I try to do is kind of go through my mental routine and get myself ready to pitch whenever that time is,” said Davis.
“It is a little bit easier on a starter’s routine,” he continued. “But with this kind of flexible roster situation, you just have to find a short routine that gets yourself ready to go to where you can get yourself mentally ready in a few minutes. That’s what I kind of try to do.”
Davis, a native of Newport Beach, California, has shown flashes in his time at 20th and Blake to indicate that he could be a valuable part of the team’s mound corps.
In his initial career major-league start on April 16, 2023, Davis hurled five scoreless innings, permitting just three hits with three walks issued and five strikeouts. During his first two major-league seasons, Davis saw action in nine games, posting an 0-4 record and 9.00 ERA in 30 total innings.
“My job is to go get outs, whether it’s here or in Triple-A,” he said. “So wherever the Rockies organization needs me, that’s where I will be and I will be giving my best.”