Hours before he haunted Midland RockHounds pitchers – and with Rockwell’s famous Trick-or-Treat playlist ballad “Somebody’s Watching Me” jamming on the stadium speakers on “Halfway to Halloween” theme night – Springfield outfielder Chase Davis spoke about his approach at the plate.
“I’m not trying to do too much in the box; just get pitches I can handle and do something with. A lot of teams have been backwards pitching me, so some off-speed early in the count and then some fastballs later,” Davis said. “But, you know, trying to put a good swing on the ball, get the barrel on it, and whether I catch it out front or deep, the ball’s going to go wherever it goes.”
On Friday night, the ball went far over the fences at Hammons Field – soon to be Route 66 Stadium – as Davis smashed a pair of home runs to lift Springfield to a 9-2 win. The Cards’ first round draft pick in 2023 broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning with a mammoth 2-run shot over the grass berm in right center field that left his bat at 109 mph. Then in the eighth, Davis yanked another 2-run blast inside the right field foul pole – the exit velo this time topped 117 mph.
Davis is slashing .254/.405/.524, with 5 home runs after he hit 10 long balls in 113 games at Double-A last season.
“There’s something about this young man, you know, I love his energy,” Cardinals’ manager Patrick Anderson said. “Got to get him to trust certain things, like he could be really, really elite with so many aspects of his game. He can play all three positions in the outfield.”
“He lays off pitches that a lot of players don’t – no matter where they’re at in their career. He just tries to get too big at times, and if he can control that, it is ridiculous what he does. Like you sit there and watch him hit balls and drive the ball to all fields. And if he is able to control it, a controlled aggressiveness, he could be unstoppable.”
Davis battled through ups-and-downs at the plate last season – he slashed .242/.358/.353 with 10 home runs and 48 RBIs – but he’s consistently been a web-gem machine in the outfield. That trend continues this spring as Davis routinely robs hitters and guns down baserunners.
POV you're a bird who flew into the @Sgf_Cardinals game at the exact moment Chase Davis (@Cardinals) hit a TANK pic.twitter.com/PmPXQm60Ny
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) April 25, 2026
“I was actually telling some of my pitchers this in the shower the other day, after one of the games I made a crazy play. They were like, bro, thank you for being there. And I always tell my pitchers, if my bat’s not there that day in the box, there’s never an excuse for my glove not to be there. I love to play with my hair on fire,” Davis said.
His glove was on display again Friday night when Davis made a diving grab on a soft liner in the fourth inning.
“Everyone has a role and my role is to help (the team win) whether its in the outfield or in the box, that’s what I’m going to do,” he said.
