Khrush Davis no more?

2019 Davis put up career lows all across the board, it isn't necessarily surprising considering he could of had lingering issues with his Hip/Oblique contusion. From 2016-2018 Davis put up a Barrel% of over 17% each season, 2019 was his lowest (since Stat-Cast started tracking Barrel% in 2015) with a Barrel% of 10.1%. to becoming one of the top power hitters in the major leagues. But this past season that certainly wasn't the case as Khris Davis had his worst season as an Athletic. looking at it from a short glance, 32 year old hitter with a contact rate that doesn't blow you away having a career worst season? you could make the argument this is the downfall of the ageing slugger, but there is some underlying numbers that could show why he may resurface as one of the top power hitters in the game when play resumes next.

2019 Season:

For the season, Davis finished with a .220/.293/..387 slash-line with a .289wOBA/.318xwOBA to go with a wRC+ of 81, all career lows since 2014 (minimum 400 plate appearances). He posted a 8.8% walk rate to go with a 27.4% K rate and a .264 BABIP (career .274).

Davis had a trip the the injured list in late may with a left Hip/Oblique contusion which isn't an ideal injury for a power hitter.

Batted ball Profile:

2019 Davis put up career lows all across the board, it isn't necessarily surprising considering he could of had lingering issues with his Hip/Oblique contusion. From 2016-2018 Davis put up a Barrel% of over 17% each season, 2019 was his lowest (since Stat-Cast started tracking Barrel% in 2015) with a Barrel% of 10.1%. Although its a career low, his hard hit rate was in the same spectrum as some notable names such as Nolan Arenado (37.4%), Max Kepler (41.7%) and catcher for the Bronx Bombers Gary Sanchez (41.2%). For his career Davis is predominately a fly-ball hitter (shocker i know), but 2019 saw his fly-ball rate drop from 48.8% in 2018 down to 37.4%, a massive 11.4% drop. It wouldn't be smart to over-react to this as stated prior Davis was dealing with a Left hip/Oblique injury which for any hitter will cause issues. Theirs still room for optimism that this was a injury related decline since his exit velocity didn't take a huge dip, dropping a measly 2.4% from 92.5MPH in 2018 down to 90.1MPH in 2019.

Fastball struggles:

Now we've reached the part that I've been itching to get to, Khris Davis had his worst season vs the fastball.

A lot of Davis's struggles can be lead to the fact that throughout his career most if not all of his damage has been off of the opponents fastball. Dating back to 2015 his lowest xSLG on fastballs came in 2016 where he had a .498SLG/..571xSLG combo, and that was his lowest. Other years Fastballs were beach balls to Davis as he never had a slugging% under .500 or an expected slugging% under .600 until the 2019 season arrived where it all came crashing down. (see image below)

2018 Davis hit 35 of his home-runs off of fastballs and prior had hit 20+ home-runs each season off of fastballs dating back to 2015. 2019 he would only hit 10 home-runs off of fastballs in 533 plate appearances. When you combine a down year vs fastballs with an 11.4% drop in fly-ball rate AND a hip/oblique injury you're going to be flirting with disaster. I would wait until Davis plays another season whenever that may be to judge whether or not he is losing the fight against father time.