Orioles first baseman Chris Davis told MASN’s Roch Kubatko that, late last season, he discussed retiring from baseball with his wife Jill. Davis obviously chose to stick it out, but will revisit the idea during the 2020 season if he can’t turn his career around.
Davis, who turns 34 years old next month, signed a seven-year, $161 million contract extension with the Orioles in January 2016. It has not gone well. Over the last four seasons, Davis hit an aggregate .198/.294/.385. The past two years in particular have not gone well, with him posting an adjusted OPS (also known as OPS+) of 49 in 2018 and 60 last year. 100 is the league average.
2019 was tough in many ways for Davis. He continued his hitless streak from the end of the ’18 season into ’19, going hitless in total for a record 54 consecutive at-bats. Davis also got into a televised disagreement with manager Brandon Hyde in the Orioles’ dugout in August.
Davis said, “The only reason I would walk away or would have walked away at the end of the season last year is if I physically felt like I couldn’t do it anymore, and that’s not the case.” Davis still views himself as a full-time player. He noted that he put on 25 pounds over the offseason in an attempt to regain his power. We’ll obviously have to wait and see if that will have its intended effect. Otherwise, Davis might be considering retirement again.