The Chris Davis leadoff experiment has been scrapped just a week into the 2018 season.
Off to a 1-for-21 start at the plate, the first baseman was lowered to fifth in the batting order as the Orioles began a four-game set against the New York Yankees on Thursday. Davis was not in Wednesday’s lineup with left-hander Dallas Keuchel on the hill for Houston — third baseman Tim Beckham batted first instead — but left fielder Trey Mancini was leading off with right-hander Masahiro Tanaka starting the series opener for the Yankees.
Manager Buck Showalter said all along that he wasn’t committed to Davis hitting first for the long haul and had hoped it would spark a good start after his difficult 2017 campaign. The lefty slugger struck out four times in Tuesday’s loss to the Astros and struck out in his only at-bat as a pinch hitter on Wednesday to lower his batting average to .048.
Showalter went out of his way on Opening Day to mention that he’d used Mancini as his leadoff hitter in a few spring games, but the reviews weren’t favorable, leading him to go with Davis.
“I didn’t like Trey there. I tried [it],” Showalter said last Thursday. “You could tell Trey was a little uncomfortable with it. Anytime a player kind of embraces things [like] it’s as much his idea as somebody else, those usually get a good return.”
Mancini is 3-for-20 with a home run to begin the season.
Below is the new-look Baltimore lineup for Thursday evening:
LF Trey Mancini
SS Manny Machado
2B Jonathan Schoop
CF Adam Jones
1B Chris Davis
3B Tim Beckham
DH Colby Rasmus
RF Anthony Santander
C Chance Sisco
SP Andrew Cashner
