The Orioles’ Chris Davis has taken futility to new levels, going 49 consecutive at-bats without a hit.
Davis is 0-for-28 with 15 strikeouts this season, after going hitless over his final 21 at-bats of the 2018 campaign.
Most consecutive ABs without a hit among position players
2018-19 Chris Davis, 49 (and counting)
2010-11 Eugenio Velez, 46
2011 Craig Counsell, 45
1973 Dave Campbell, 45
1909 Bill Bergen, 45
Source: Elias Sports Bureau
Davis actually made some measure of progress in Monday’s record-breaking game. The exit velocity of the fly balls he hit in his first three at-bats were 92, 91 and 104 mph. Entering the game, he has only six batted balls with an exit velocity of at least 90 mph. (Mike Trout entered Monday with 12 of more than 100 mph this season.)
Davis’ lineout in the fifth inning Monday had a 58 percent hit probability, but it was not to be as A’s left fielder Robbie Grossman snared it at the warning track. Davis struck out his last two at-bats to complete an 0-for-5 night.
Davis’ Consecutive Hitless At-Bats
• 29 strikeouts (20 swinging, 9 looking)
• 7 fly outs
• 6 lineouts
• 6 groundouts
• 1 reached on fielder’s choice
1:44
Tim Kurkjian thinks baseball is partly to blame for Chris Davis’ struggles, saying this is a tough sport, and this can happen.
Davis’ last hit came Sept. 14, 2018, a double off James Shields of the White Sox. From Sept. 15, 2018 through the games played April 7, 2019, 569 players had hits, none of them named Chris Davis (although Khris Davis had 20).
Some other notes about that span, courtesy ESPN Stats & Information:
From Sept. 15, 2018 through April 7, 2019 …
• 75 hits have been recorded by pitchers
• Most hits in that span: Christian Yelich and Anthony Rendon (36 each)
• Most HR and RBI in that span: Christian Yelich (12, 35)
• Most hits without making an out: Brewers P Brandon Woodruff (3-for-3)
• Most at-bats without a strikeout: Martin Prado (21)
Since the start of Davis’ streak and entering Monday, Mike Trout had a 1.366 OPS and Christian Yelich had a 1.517 OPS. Yelich has 23 extra-base hits in that stretch, while Davis has 29 strikeouts.
Money for nothing
To make matters worse, Davis has a base salary of $23 million as part of a seven-year, $161 million contract he signed in January 2016. (Hey, he was coming off a 47-homer season in 2015 and he hit 53 homers in 2013.) Dividing Davis’ salary by 186 days, the length of the baseball season, comes out to him being paid about $123,655 per day of the season. So in the 19 days of baseball since his last hit, Davis has made more than $3.5 million.
Fret not, Orioles fans, Davis’ deal, which we rated as the worst in the majors before the season, has only four years and $92 million left.