Sunday, February 28, 2010

The Incredible Expanding Ike Davis

Kevin Kernan, who seems to be leading the league in "optimistic spring training articles" (or OSTA's, as we like to call them) published a nice fluff piece on Ike Davis yesterday afternoon. He profiles the youngster, talks about his dad, Ron Davis, a former Yankees reliever, and talks about his rapid ascent through the minor league system. All is well, until this:

But Davis is taking it all in, when you are wearing No. 78 in your first big league camp, you don't expect too much.

"I try to limit my expectations," said Davis, who added 30 pounds of bulk over the offseason. "I want to just be ready. I'm going to go wherever they put me. Wherever I fall, I think I will be prepared. I've seen these guys on TV and now I get to hit BP with them, it's pretty cool. You get to learn a lot."
THIRTY POUNDS? What, did he grow an extra leg?

It is anybody's guess as to whether the added "bulk" is muscle or otherwise, or whether it will help or hinder him in the game of baseball - but wow. I love how it's dropped in there so casually.


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*Also, happy belated birthday to Fonzie Forever writer Roger Cormier, the man responsible for bringing you such classics as "I'm In Love With That Song" and "The Curse of Kevin Burkhardt." Both are great reads.

2 comments:

James Esatto said...

If my figures are right, he is 6'5 and weighed under 200 pounds at the time of the draft. That's actually pretty thin for a hitter. If you saw 6'5, 230 lbs. I don't think you would really think twice about it. He already had good power, will be interesting to see how it effects his game (assuming the reports are true).

Brian Mangan said...

I agree that 230 is a good weight for a big slugging first baseman at that height... but that's awfully fast to pack on weight, isn't it? Even for a young guy?

Though perhaps my view of weight-gain is skewed by the fact that I'm the same height as Davis but only weigh 185. Who knows.