Khris Davis steps in the bucket and it doesn't matter for him or for the A's

Khris Davis swung and missed the first-pitch slider as it veered away from him at 83 mph. The A’s were in the midst of yet another nail-biter against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. It was a Saturday afternoon of an extra-inning ball game. Tied at 6-6. The A’s had a chance to steal the series.

Yankees right-handed reliever A.J. Cole went back to the slider, this time lower but more over the plate and Davis fouled it off. The next slider, Cole hit his spot — down and away at 84 mph — and Davis barely tipped it, right into the glove of catcher Gary Sanchez. And just like that, with two on and one out in the 10th, Davis was done on three pitches.

That’s when the text came from my dad: “Davis has a different approach at the plate. It’s almost like he bails out.”

It didn’t make sense at first, especially because Davis had homered once in both of the first two games of this May series. But after some research it was clear — Morris McWilliams was right about Davis’ approach.

He was bailing out. Stepping in the bucket, as it is called. Instead of stepping in a linear direction, with his front foot going towards the pitcher, Davis steps away towards third base. Batters are usually taught to stay on a straight line, imagining one’s body on a string that leads forward. Davis doesn’t do that.

No hitting coach would ever teach Davis’ style. So many things can go wrong. For starters, it puts the eyes of the batter on a diagonal slant and not on the plane with the pitch. It also limits the hitter’s plate coverage, leaving him vulnerable to pitches on the outer half of the plate.

That is, unless you’re Davis.

The numbers show that Davis is a freak. He’s got 20 home runs so far this season, right on pace for a third straight year of 40-plus. To put that in perspective, only 44 players in MLB history have put together three separate 40-homer seasons in their entire careers.

For what it’s worth, though, obviously this is just a snapshot of one stat: Hank Aaron’s longest streak of 40-homer seasons was two, and Babe Ruth once had a seven-season run of 40-homer campaigns. Recently, Alex Rodriguez had a six-season streak, Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn each had five-season streaks and Ryan Howard, Jim Thome and Albert Pujols each had four-season runs.

But a look at the mechanics, the techniques of his swing, reveals that Davis is quite the anomaly. His power is even more jaw-dropping from this view. His bat speed’s even more impressive. He can flagrantly violate a baseline fundamental and still produce at insane levels.

“He keeps his weight back really well and he’s strong,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “I mean, the mechanics of his swing are a little bit unique, but he lets the ball travel some. He opens up, but he still lets the ball travel. He doesn’t get ahead of himself. His weight distribution is always back. He uses his lower half really well and his forearms are about as strong as anybody.”

In the eighth inning, the at-bat before my dad’s text, Davis went down on three pitches to Dellin Betances, who followed an 83 mph knuckle curve with a 99 mph four-seamer.

Here is Betances’ strikeout pitch to Davis:

When you freeze-frame it and watch his foot, it’s evident he’s stepping out.

But hold on. It’s not that simple.

There’s a reason he is tied with Giancarlo Stanton for most homers (105) hit since the start of 2016. Each time Davis comes to the plate, he is a significant threat to go deep. The way he crushes pitches, it seems everything he hits sounds like breaking glass. So, obviously he’s had success with it, right?

The simple answer: his power compensates for the quirk.

“If you step in the bucket a little bit — I was one — it’s OK because that clears your hips,” said A’s third base coach Matt Williams, who hit 378 career homers with the Giants, Cleveland and Arizona. “If your shoulder goes with it, that’s not OK. Khris has the ability to stay in with his shoulder, clear his lower half and then hit through the baseball.

“It’s a little surprising that he has such great power that way (opposite field), because the tendency is that you would lose a little bit of your power as that front foot goes a little bit toward shortstop. But he’s just so strong that if he clips the ball on the head of the bat it has a chance to leave anywhere.”

Here is the homer off of Sonny Gray in the series opener on May 11:

Again, when you freeze-frame where Davis’ foot lands, you can see that he is still stepping out. It’s almost exactly the same as the strikeout to Betances, only this time the result is a blast to right-center over the home bullpen and into a sighing crowd of dejected Yankees fans.

Despite Davis’ body going away from the pitch, his bat, somehow, still stays in the zone, as he creates maximum extension and plate coverage. Despite swinging with reckless abandon, his body, somehow, is still under control.

You can’t hit stepping in the bucket, they say. But Davis defies that logic. His swing and flailing foot are an active rebellion against a long-held hitting truth in baseball circles.

“I don’t practice that,” Davis said. “That’s something that’s kind of developed over the years from swinging hard. So for me, it’s all about my hands. As long as my hands are back it really doesn’t matter what that front foot does, as long as (the landing) is soft and early.”

Davis has as much power to all fields as any hitter in baseball.

His hitting charts show that he covers the entire strike zone and has significant power to the opposite field. That was imperative for Davis growing up in his household. The son of a major league scout, his pops always preached going the other way.

Here’s some proof judging by his average exit velocity on each part of the plate through 72 games:

Furthermore, he has just as many homers against pitches on the outer-half this season as he does pitches on the inner-half.

And if you make a mistake inside, well, this is the result: a flailing foot and a bomb.

But how does Davis do it? How does he maintain plate coverage despite his body looking as if he is heading towards the third base dugout?

“He’s very flexible,” A’s hitting coach Darren Bush said. “Even though his foot’s going in that direction, his swing is going to the middle of the field. He keeps his hands going in the right direction. Whatever his lower half is doing, it’s not affecting his actual swing plane. His lower half is so flexible, it helps get him on plane. Everybody hits different.”

So: power and flexibility.

Davis is listed at 5-foot-11. He’s probably closer to 5-9. But he has really long arms that dangle near his knees. He also uses a 34-inch bat. It almost looks too big for his body, yet he can whip it around like a toothpick. He can cover the entire plate with the long bat; and because of his strength, he doesn’t sacrifice bat speed.

Making it all work — the wayward step, the long arms, the dynamic power, the long stick — requires Davis’ body to move like that old Gumby animation character at the plate.

“We saw it when he first got here and it was different than how he hit in the past,” Bush said. “It works. It works for him. You can’t create everybody being the same. As long as the swing is going in the correct direction, it’s OK.”

There is the idea that Davis’ approach has an advantage. Some would suggest he can see the ball better with both eyes, instead of one, because he opens up when he steps outward, meaning his eyes are directly forward on the pitcher.

Former A’s star Josh Donaldson said being open is also good because your hips must separate from your upper half.

“I think he has a unique load,” Donaldson said of Davis when the A’s visited Toronto. “And as far as the swing is concerned, to be a smaller-stature guy, he creates a lot of power.”

“In my case,” Davis explained, “I think it’s more of a hip action (as to) why I open up. So, like, swinging hard and my hips just turn that way.”

Davis grew up idolizing Ken Griffey Jr. Though he hits from the right side, unlike the sweet-swinging lefty, Davis still mimics the upright stance at the plate with a little wiggle back and forth.

He said his feet are closed together, so it’s not exactly like Junior. But that was the goal, to model after the player he considered the best.

Davis’ upright stance allows him to be athletic in the zone. He can manipulate his body or redirect it if need be. If he were, say, in more of a crouched position, his front foot bailing out probably wouldn’t be as effective because he would be a bit more rigid.

His upright stance gives way to freedom. He can shift to different gears and yet still remain succinct. And because Davis is always thinking right field to right-center, he’s conditioned to keep it all in focus.

Indeed, Davis is the exception to the “rules.” You can’t teach what he does. He’s specifically skilled enough to do it in a way most players aren’t. To step out as extremely as Davis does usually means your hands, head and everything else go with it.

Melvin paused to ponder possible comparisons. He was staring out towards the maintenance crew manicuring the Coliseum field before an afternoon game against the Tampa Bay Rays. But what he was searching for was in his memory, for a player he managed who successfully overcame such a quirk.

Finally, a guy popped to mind.

“You know, (Yoenis) Céspedes steps in the bucket a little bit and can hit the ball to right-center field, too,” Melvin said.

Another pause.

That Cal brain worked hard to come up with that name, and he knew even the one he found didn’t quite do Davis justice.

“But not that significant,” he said regarding Céspedes’ front foot in comparison to Davis’. Finally, he gave up.

“No,” Melvin uttered as he walked away. “Davis is different.”

— Reported from Oakland

(Top photo: Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images)

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RiffDash

Khris Davis steps in the bucket and it doesn't matter for him or for the A's