Henry Davis was the first overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft. He has been one of the worst hitters on the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2025 and that is saying something when it comes to the currently constructed team.

Lets breakdown the numbers.

This season has not been kind to Henry Davis. Fans were hoping the #1 overall pick would have a break out year in 2025 and it just has not happened. Davis looks to be regressing as a hitter and is slowly becoming one of the worst players at the plate in major league baseball this season. Davis has played in 58 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates and is currently slashing .164/.249/.267 with only 9 extra base hits in 165 at bats. He has a strikeout rate of just under 25% on the year which just isn’t good enough for a guy that was drafted specifically for his bat.

The numbers that are really concerning this year are his whiff rate, chase rate, and squared-up rate. His chase rate at 32.4% which about 8% worse than the league average. He whiffs 26.9% of the time and in comparison with the rest of the league, he is about 4% worse than the average hitter. His squared-up rate is the most concerning underlying metric.. He only squares up the ball 20.7% of time which explains why his average exit velocity is only 88.2mph on the year. Again, with comparison to the league, he is well below average on this metric.

Henry Davis’ minor league numbers have not translated into the major leagues. His AAA numbers have been excellent since being drafted by the Pirates. He has played in 79 games with the Indianapolis Indians and has slashed .316/.417/.548 with 15 home runs in 3 seasons. He has an OPS of .945 which makes fans want to believe that he still can turn it around at the big league level. However, there are some growing concerns that he may be a AAAA player and may never reach his full potential as a Pittsburgh Pirate. In the last 15 games, Davis is slashing .048/.216/.071 with just 2 hits and 15 strikeouts. There is no doubt in mind my mind he is working his tail off to improve as a player, but unfortunately the results have not been there for him.

Logan Webb's 7th and 8th Ks…thru 4. 🕸️ pic.twitter.com/ZYWUj7oblC

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 5, 2025

The front office must be concerned with what is going on. Just last week at the trade deadline, Ben Cherington traded for two catching prospects. One of which was the New York Yankees #8 prospect, Rafael Flores. Flores is currently in AAA and is at the doorstep to potentially take either Henry Davis’ or Joey Bart’s spot on the roster next year.

Behind the plate, Davis has been the better catcher on the roster. He has caught in 450.2 innings this season and only has 3 errors. He has an incredible pop time of 1.91 and has caught 7 runners trying to steal this season. He still needs to work on his framing, but with the automatic balls and strikes system coming next year, that skill set will likely not be needed much longer. His blocking is still below average, but he is progressing each day with that as well. Fans can trust his defense, but he cannot be a black hole in the lineup which he currently is.

Ben Cherington will likely give Davis the rest of the season to turn it around at the plate, but if he continues to struggle the way he is, then the organization needs to admit their failures and try find a replacement that can help the franchise get out of the dark hole it currently is in.