J.D. Davis

BIOGRAPHY

Jonathan Gregory “J.D.” Davis was born on April 27, 1993, in Elk Grove, California. He is a third baseman and left fielder in the MLB.

He has previously played in the MLB for the Houston Astros. After his junior season, Davis was drafted by the Houston Astros in the third round of the 2014 Major League Baseball draft. He signed with the Astros and made his professional debut with the Tri-City ValleyCats. After hitting .293 with a .878 on-base plus slugging (OPS) in 30 games, he was promoted to the Quad Cities River Bandits of the Class A Midwest League, where he finished the season, batting .303 with eight home runs and 32 RBIs. 

In 2015, he played for the Lancaster JetHawks of the Class A-Advanced California League, where he slashed .289/.370/.520 with 26 home runs and 101 RBIs, and in 2016, he played for the Corpus Christi Hooks of the Class AA Texas League, where he collected a .268 batting average with 23 home runs and 81 RBIs. Davis began 2017 with Corpus Christi, and after batting .279 with 21 home runs and 60 RBIs, was promoted to the Fresno Grizzlies of the Class AAA Pacific Coast Leaguein July where he batted .295 with five home runs, 18 RBIs, and a .993 OPS in 16 games.

The Astros promoted Davis to the major leagues on August 5, 2017. He played 24 games with the Astros, having a .226 batting average, four home runs, and seven RBIs. The Astros finished the year with a 101–61 record, and eventually won the 2017 World Series. Davis did not play in the playoffs, but was still on the Astros 40-man roster, giving him a chance to win his first career championship.

On March 24, 2018, the Astros announced that Davis had made the Opening Day roster. He batted .175 with one home run in 103 at bats for the Astros, and .342 with 17 home runs for Fresno. On January 6, 2019, the Astros traded Davis and Cody Bohanek to the New York Mets.

Davis played in 56 games for the Mets in 2020, slashing .247/.371/.389 with 6 home runs and 19 RBIs. The 8 double plays he grounded into were 5th-most in the National League, and his 7 hit by pitch were 6th-most in the league. In the field, he played 34 games at third base, and 11 in left field.

On August 2, 2022, Davis and pitchers Carson Seymour, Nick Zwack, and Thomas Szapucki were traded to the San Francisco Giants for first baseman/outfielder Darin Ruf.

With the Giants, he batted .263/.361/.496 in 137 at bats, with 20 runs, 8 home runs, and 14 RBIs. With the Giants he played 18 games at third base, 14 each at first base and DH, and 2 in left field. In 2022 he was in the top 5% in MLB in hard-hit percentage (56.1%), barrel percentage, and average exit velocity on balls hit (92.4 mph).

On January 13, 2023, Davis agreed to a one-year, $4.21 million contract with the Giants, avoiding salary arbitration.