Baltimore Orioles: Taylor Davis Is A Fun One To Cheer For

The Baltimore Orioles have signed catcher Taylor Davis to a minor league deal.

Apparently, the Baltimore Orioles weren’t finished adding reserve catchers to the organization after recently signing former Miami Marlins backstop Bryan Holaday a few days ago.

Originally reported by Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register back on January 15, the Orioles have added catcher Taylor Davis on a minor league deal. He has spent the last nine seasons in the Chicago Cubs organization. MASN’s Roch Kubatko has since confirmed the signing.

You may be familiar with Davis from his natural ability to work a camera.

While this viral video is a classic and does a perfect job of showcasing the type of personality Davis brings to the organization, his story is actually one of the many reasons why I love baseball so much.

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Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune does a fantastic job of telling the story of Taylor Davis and what led him to the major leagues in this story from May. Selected by the Miami Marlins in the 49th round of the 2008 as a “mercy pick”, Davis had just one college offer coming out of high school, spending his college days playing for Morehead State in Kentucky instead of signing with Miami.

At Morehead State, Davis hit .360 with 36 home runs, walking 82 times to just 60 strikeouts in 137 career games.

Since joining the Cubs, Davis owns a career slash line of .277/.348/.398 with 11 home runs and impressive strikeout-to-walk totals, going down on strikes 292 times and drawing a free pass 228 times in 629 minor league games.

He hasn’t seen much playing time in the big leagues, just 36 at-bats across 20 games, but he does have one defining moment, this grand slam against the St. Louis Cardinals, a 416-foot bomb off St. Louis pitcher Michael Wacha.

Standing at 5’11” and 190 pounds and going undrafted out of college, Davis was never supposed to make it to the major leagues, but he did. Forget the numbers, by all accounts, Davis is the type of player who will make a major impact in the clubhouse, likely in Triple-A with the Norfolk Tides. Norfolk is expected to have a roster full of Top 30 prospects and guys who should develop into major league contributors, a veteran leadership piece or two would be a welcomed addition.

Welcome to Birdland, Taylor Davis!