2024 Athletics Season in Review: J.D. Davis

Davis was signed right before the 2024 season to fill a void at the hot corner but he lasted just three months

A’s Nation yearly player review series is back for another year and what better way to get things started than J.D. Davis! Stay tuned each and everyday until January 5th as we analyze a new player and their 2024 contributions. Today, we’ll discuss one of the shortest tenured A’s from the previous season in Davis who spent 2024 with four different organizations.

How Acquired?

The A’s signed Davis on March 16, 2024 five days after being released by the San Francisco Giants. He was inked to a one-year, $1.5 million deal.

What were the expectations?

Signed during Spring Training just days before Opening Day, Davis was expected to add a strong veteran presence in the A’s lineup when healthy. Davis’ one-year deal assured Darell Hernaiz would begin the season in the minors as the third-base position proved to be a question mark during Spring Training, but for an A’s team that used six men at the hot corner in 2023 Davis was supposed to add more stability.

2024 Results

Davis began the season red-hot going 8-for-22 with two home runs in the first week but just as he began to slow down he also suffered a right abductor strain injury that landed him on the injured list mid-April. Davis then returned from injury playing primarily first base with Ryan Noda in the minors and Abraham Toro doing a strong job at third. Davis wasn’t able to do much in his return let alone replicate his early season success so he was designated for assignment mid-June after 39 games and 123 at-bats with the Green and Gold.

He slashed .236 with four home runs and five RBIs while striking out just under 25% of the time. The A’s wound up trading Davis to the New York Yankees for Jordan Groshans but Davis was again designated for assignment just a month after landing in New York. The Baltimore Orioles signed Davis on August 7th but he elected for free agency November 4th.

2025 Outlook

It’s hard to imagine that Davis doesn’t earn another big league chance after slugging 18 big flies and nearly 70 RBIs in 2023 but his playing situation and health will dictate what he does with said chance. A career subpar defender entering his age-32 season, Davis would likely benefit from a designated hitter or pinch hitting role. Davis’ next chance would likely be another one-year stint so it’ll be up to him to prove he’s still the power hitting bat he showed with the Giants and New York Mets in years prior.