2007 3rd Round Pick Lars Davis

by Russ Oates on Jun 7, 2007 5:16 PM MDT in Rockies Draft

Lars Davis

C, Illinois (profile)

HT: 6'3" WT: 205 lbs.

2007 Stats: 58 GP/GS, .400 BA, .461 OBP, .644 SLG, 225 AB, 55 R, 90 H, 10 2B, 3 3B, 13 HR, 56 RBI, 20 BB, 8 HBP, 32 K, 8-12 SB

Bio: Davis is a native of Grand Prairie, Alberta, Canada and spent his first season playing for the Prairie Baseball Academy while attending Lethbridge College. Prior to that, the Devil Rays drafted him in 2003. After being named the 2005 "Dawg of the Year" at the PBA, he transferred to Illinois and immediately became the starting catcher. He ranked the top five for average, home runs and RBI that season.

This season he exploded on to the draft scene with his bat, not his defense. He threw out 36% of base runners in 2006 and 28.6% this year. As that link will also inform you, he was the only Big 10 player to make a Louisville Slugger AA Team. He's also into science as he was a molecular and cellular biology major.

Other Links: Canada.com article.

Commentary: Davis has a good offensive skill set that will help him through the minors and already ranks higher in offensive skill than most catchers already in the Rockies' system. Solid pick.

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hmmm

A Catcher in the third round? This is interesting to me because it seems the rockies look okay at that position. Iannetta, Colina, and what is the name of the guy in AAA tearing it up? I guess it is an okay pick he has great numbers and a good offensive catcher in the lineup can really make a diference. Good luck to him and welcome to the rockies

Go Rockies

by Rox Rock on Jun 7, 2007 9:07 PM MDT reply actions

This is my favorite pick

of our draft thus far, and I don't know a great deal about him still.

First, this looks like a quality "Schmidt" pick. Davis comes in under the radar, having played at a non-traditional baseball school, but put up big numbers and is cosnidered a good athlete for the position. Scouts have to make a more concerted effort to get out to games in Illinois, hence the likely lack of draft video or detailed scouting reports.

Davis also doesn't seem like some flash in the pan, having played in the Northwoods and in his Illinois bio he's credited with putting up solid numbers with a wood bat as a freshman.

Character-wise, Davis seems to be yet another hard working intellectual, majoring in molecular and cellular biology at a traditionally academic intensive school. I like the comments of Illinois' coach in this story where his hard work and character are praised profusely. Even Buck Martinez stated on XM radio after covering the Big Ten tournament that Davis would be a pretty good pro prospect.

Even if Davis proves only to be average defensively, his size can only play up his offensive tools and he could be a similar hitter to Michael Barrett if you weigh his numbers with Baseball America's scouting report in the Draft Map.

So while I haven't had the chance to see him play, or read a wider range of opinions on him, I still get the impression that this will be a solid find for the scouting department, and might likely was the best offensive catcher available at the point of the draft.

by David OhNo on Jun 7, 2007 11:00 PM MDT reply actions