Ike Davis: Former Mets First Baseman (2010 - 2014)

Isaac Benjamin "Ike" Davis was born on March 22, 1987, in Edina, Minnesota. 

Ike's paternal grandfather was a paratrooper landing in France on D-Day. His maternal side of the family are of the Jewish / Lithuanian heritage. Sadly, many of those ancestors were killed during the Holocaust. 

Ron Davis- Father: Ike's father, a Baptist is former MLB pitcher Ron Davis, who pitched eleven years in MLB for the A.L. New York club & Minnesota Twins. 

In 1979 Ron Davis was 14-2 leading the A.L. in winning % (.875%). In 1981 Davis made the A.L. All Star team & pitched in the World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

After going to the Twins he saved over 20 games for four straight seasons, closing out his career with the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers & San Francisco Giants finishing with a 47-53 record & 130 career saves. 

Ron's son Ike Davis went to high school in Scottsdale Arizona leading his team to three straight State Championships. There he was still a pitcher going 23-0 while batting .447 also playing first base. 

Ike Davis Parents- Former MLB pitcher Ron Davis

College Years: Davis then attended the excellent baseball school at Arizona State University, where he was an immediate star player. As a freshman he was ranked second in the nation by Baseball America. He was voted a three time All Pac ten, & two time All American. Davis was still a pitcher in college throwing a 95 mph. fast ball, but his hitting was even better. Ike finished his college career with a .353 batting average. 

In 2008 he was drafted in the first round (18th pick overall) by the New York Mets. 

Ike began in his minor league career with the A ball Brooklyn Cyclones batting .256 making the adjustment from college ball to the minor leagues. At this point he stopped pitching & became a full time position player. 

Ike went the whole season without hitting any HRs (58 games) later commenting it was his most embarrassing period as a ball player. 

 In 2009 he was promoted to the A ball St. Lucie Mets, where he hit .288 with seven HRs 17 doubles & 28 RBIs in 59 games. He was then moved up to AA Binghamton where he quickly hit 13 HRs with 14 doubles, batting .309 in just 288 at bats. He was named the Mets Organizational Player of the Year & he showed a lot of big league potential. 

He attended the Mets Spring Training of 2010 getting lots of attention when he hit three HRs, lead all Mets batters with a .480 average & played a spectacular defense. 

He started out the 2010 season at AAA Buffalo, but after ten games he had two HRs & was batting .364 when he was promoted to the Mets big league club. 

Mets Career: The highly touted prospect arrived at Citi Field with a lot of fanfare & hype.

 On April 19th in a 6-1 win over the Chicago Cubs. Davis walked to the plate to a huge ovation as the Mets fans were hungry to see a new hopeful home-grown star of the future. Davis did not disappoint & singled in his first career at bat. On the evening, he went 2-4, driving in his first run in the 7th inning with a single up the middle. 

First Career HR: On April 23rd, he hit his first career HR, coming off the Braves Kenshin Kawakami. The 5th inning solo shot landed on the Shea Bridge at Citi Field in a 5-2 Mets win. 

In his first four games he had two multi-hit games At the end of April, Davis was batting .355 living up to the hype early on, although it was a concern if he could handle the pressure being put on him at his young age. In just two short years he had played only 65 games above the AA level. 

Multi HR Game: In May 7th, Ike had his first multi-HR game, hitting two HRs off the Giants Jonathan Sanchez leading the Mets to a 6-4 win at Citi Field.

Walk Off HR: On June 8th he was 0-4 in a game at Citi Field against the Padres. But then he came to bat in the bottom of the 10th & hit a walk off HR off Edward Mujica for the 2-1 win.

I Like Ike: In a season without too many highlights, Ike Davis quickly became one of the most popular players. “I like Ike” banners & t-shirts began to surface among Mets fans. 

In June he drove in 12 runs over an eight-game span. On July 4th he hit his tenth HR of the season, helping the Mets in a 9-5 win over the Nationals in Washington.

At the All-Star break Davis had 11 HRs, which was the second highest total for a Mets rookie heading to the break. In 1965 Ron Swoboda set the record with 15, Davis matched Benny Agbayani (1999) for the second most with the 11.

Multi HR Game: On July 17th, he had another multi-HR game, connecting off the Giants Matt
Cain & Santiago Casilla in a loss at San Francisco.

On July 23rd, he hit his 15th HR of the season, a three-run shot at Citi Field, off the Cardinals Blake Hawksworth, leading the offense in an R.A. Dickey four hit shutout. On August 18th at Houston, his 14th inning sac fly in Houston scored Jose Reyes with what was the game winning run. 

But his bat had cooled off as he only batted .214 in July then did not hit a HR all through the month of August. He came back to close the season with a strong September. He batted .330 in the month with nine multi-hit games raising his batting average almost twenty points for the season, ending a promising rookie year. 

In early September he broke the HR drought hitting three HRs in a four-game span. First in back-to-back games at Wrigley Field, then another at Washington D.C. where his three-run shot led the Mets to a 4-1 victory. Overall he added seven walks & six RBIs to the three HRs in the first week of the month. 

On September 11th, he had a 7th inning bases loaded single driving his second & third runs of the game, leading New York to a 4-3 win against the Philadelphia Phillies. 

Davis finished the year batting .264 with 138 hits 19 HRs 33 doubles & 71 RBIs. He struck out way too many times-138 but did draw 72 walks posting a good .351 on base % & .791 OPS.  

Trivia: Davis set a Mets rookie record for total bases (230) while tying Lee Mazzilli’s rookie record with 72 walks. He tied Ty Wigginton’s rookie record in extra base hits (53) while most of his other numbers were second best in a Mets rookie year. His 138 hits were fourth best by a Met Rookie.

On the field he posted a .993 fielding %, with nine errors, making many spectacular plays throughout the year. He came in seventh in the Rookie of the Year voting & was named to Baseball America’s All-rookie team. 

2011: The season began hopeful for Davis & the Mets under new manager Terry Collins. Through the first ten games of the year he had five multi-hit games, drove in runs in all but one game & was batting .364. 

From April 21st - April 23rd, he hit HRs in three straight games while driving in runs in four straight games. In the month he would hit .337 with 5 HRs & 20 RBIs. 

In early May, when the west coast teams rolled into Citi Field, Davis hit HRs in two of five games. 

Season Ending Injury: Then on May 10thth in Colorado, he collided with David Wright on a Troy Tulowitzki pop up, injuring his ankle. He was placed on the DL & Wright soon followed with a back injury. Davis' ankle did not heal well & an MRI revealed cartilage damage. He was never the same player after the injury.

Davis missed the rest of the 2011 season, in 36 games he hit seven HRs with eight doubles one triple, seven walks a .383 on base % & a .302 batting average. 

2012:  Davis began slowly, going hitless in his first ten games. In mid-April he hit HRs in back-to-back games, including a three-run shot against the Braves, in a 6-1 Mets win in Atlanta. 

He finished the month batting just .185 and his hitting woes would continue for the first three months of the season, as he did not get over the .200 mark until June 30th. 

On June 12th, Davis drove in a run during a subway series match up. The next day in Tampa he hit a three run HR off the Rays J.P. Howell in an 11-2 Mets win. Ike would drive in runs in four straight games. 

R.A. Dickey's One Hitters: On June 13th, Davis collected an RBI in R.A. Dickey's one hit victory in Tampa.

Grand Slam HR: On June 18th R.A. Dickey pitched his second straight one hit game, a one hit shutout for his eleventh win of the season, to go 11-1. Davis led the offense with his first career grand slam, coming off the Orioles Jake Arrieta in an interleague 5-0 win over Baltimore. 

On June 22nd, he hit a three run HR off Andy Pettite in the subway series at Citi Field. It came in a five run 1st inning in the 6-4 Mets victory. On June 27th he hit another HR, driving in four runs in the Mets 17-1 debacle win over the Chicago Cubs. On July 7th he hit a two run HR off Jeff Samardzija, leading the Mets to a 3-1 win over the Cubs at Citi Field.

 Multi HR Game: On July 28th, Davis had his biggest slugging game, as he hit three solo HRs off the Diamondbacks Ian Kennedy, in a game the Mets would lose 6-3 at Arizona to the d-backs. 

After the Break: It was the start of a horrible Mets second half of the season for the Mets. After going 46-40 in the first half, they would finish 74-88 in fourth place.

At this point Davis was hitting more HRs, becoming one of the biggest HR threats in the NL. In July he hit seven HRs the most productive power month of his season. In the second half of the season, he hit 20 HRs. He was also driving in runs although his batting average was still suffering from lack of consistent hits. 

On August 18th he hit a two run HR off the Nat's Edwin Jackson, driving in both runs in a Jonathon Niese 2-0 shut out on his way to his tenth win. 

Multi HR - Walk Off HR Game: On August 26th Davis was the offensive star of a 2-1 Mets win over the Astros at Citi Field. Jermey Hefner held Houston down to a run over eight innings. With the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the 9th, Davis hit the game winning walk off HR off Wilton Lopez for the exciting win.

He continued his hot hitting, closing out the month with a three run HR in Miami. On August 31st, Davis 25th HR came off Nathan Eovaldi in R.A. Dickey's four hit shutout for his seventeenth win. 

In September Davis hit seven more HRs, becoming the first Met since 2008 to reach the thirty HR mark. 

Multi HR 5 RBI Game & 30th HR: On September 24th, Ike had his third multi-HR game of the season. In the bottom of the 4th, Davis hit a two-run shot off the Pirates Kyle McPherson for his 29th of the year. In the bottom of the 5th, Ike hit a three-run shot off Jeff Karstens, collecting his season high five RBIs in the Mets 7-1 win. The win went to Jenrry Mejia his first in two years.

 R.A. Dickey's 20th Win: On September 27th, the day R.A. Dickey won his twentieth game of the season; Davis added a solo HR in the 2nd inning off the Pirates Kevin Correia in the 6-5 win.

On October 3rd, Ike closed out the year with another HR on the last day of the year in a 4-2 win over the Marlins in Florida.

On the season he led the club in HRs (32) was second to David Wright in RBIs (90) & runs scored (66). Davis only hit .227 with 26 doubles 61 walks a .308 on base % & .772 OPS. He struck out a career high 141 times. At first base he posted a .994% (5th in the NL) making eight errors (3rd in the NL). 

Trivia: Davis had been known to love the New York City night life, which did concern the Mets organization, making them publicly unhappy with him at times.

2013: As the season began, there were high expectations for Ike with lots of pressure put on him. In the second game of the season, he blasted a two run HR helping the Mets to an 8-4 win over the San Diego Padres. 

Multi HR Game: On April 19th, with the Mets down 2-0, Ike hit a 6th inning HR the Nationals Steve Strasburg. In the 8th he added a two run HR off Drew Storen helping the Mets in a Matt Harvey 7-1 win over the Nat's at Citi Field.

Ike ended April with four HRs but then he did not hit another until June 2nd. By that time, he was only batting .160 & many people were asking Manager Terry Collins how long he planned on sticking with Ike at first base. 

On June 9th Davis was sent down to AAA Las Vegas for the next month to fine tune his hitting.  There he hit .293 with 7 HRs & 13 RBIs in 21 games.

Multi HR Game: On July 5th, Davis returned & had another multi-HR game, hitting a pair of HRs driving in three runs in a 12-5 Mets win at Milwaukee. 

But again, he fell into a rut & did not hit a HR until three weeks later. On July 26th, he hit a three-run shot in a 11-0 romp of the Nat's in D.C. On July 29th, the Mets rallied for three runs in the top of the 7th inning in Miami, to beat the Marlins 6-5. Davis provided the winning RBI driving in Marlon Byrd with a double off AJ Ramos. Davis finally got over the .200 mark in August.

He then missed all of September with injuries. In 103 games he hit just .205 with 9 HRs 14 doubles & 33 RBIs. He still struck out over 100 ties (101) for the third time in his four-year career, drew 57 walks with a .326 on base % & .661 OPS in 317 at bats.

For Davis, the injuries & his hitting struggles, opened the door for Josh Satin to get more playing time at first base & he did a fine job. Also with a healthy Lucas Duda, there was much competition for Ike at first base. Throughout the winter the Mets tried to shop Davis for some top young pitching but there were no takers. 

2014: By Spring Training 2014, Davis was back in Mets camp, saying he was surprised he wasn't dealt, but he was happy to still be a Met. 

Davis was with Mets in their Opening Day line up, although it was announced that young slugging Lucas Duda would be the teams main first baseman. 

Walk Off Grand Slam: On April 5th, Ike enjoyed his last moment of glory as a Met. He came in to pinch hit in the bottom of the 9th inning, with the Mets down 3-2 to the Cincinnati Reds. Davis stepped in & hit a grand slam walk off HR off the Reds JJ Hoover. It was an exciting game winner for Ike & the Mets fans as they now cheered him once again.

But just 12 games into the season, Davis was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for pitcher Zack Thorton & a player to be named later.

Mets Career Stats: In his Mets career he played 432 games at first base (7th most all time). He played 454 games batting .241 with 365 hits 82 doubles 68 HRs & 224 RBIs.

Post Mets Career: In Pittsburgh for the rest of 2014 Davis would become the Bucs main first baseman, making nine errors there (2nd in the NL). 

Grand Slam: On April 21st, he hit another Grand Slam against the Cincinnati Reds, making him the third player in MLB history to switch teams & hit grand slams in the same season against the same opponent. Ray Boone (19530 & the Mets Mike Piazza did it in 1998. Ike was the first to do it in the same April.

He batted .235 with 10 HRs 18 doubles & 46 RBIs in 131 games. At the end of the season, he was designated for assignment & was purchased by the Oakland A's. 

In 2015, Ike would only play in 74 games with Oakland going down with a season ending torn hip labrum in August. He hit 3 HRs with 20 RBIs batting .229 in 214 at bats. 

Trivia: That April he made his pitching debut, throwing a perfect inning in a blowout game against the LA Angels.

After the season he signed a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers but was released & signed with the A.L. New York club. In 2016 he played just eight games there going 3-14 before being released in.

Career Stats: In his seven-year career he has played in 665 games batting .239 with 496 hits 81 HRs 117 doubles 2 triples 260 runs scored & 291 RBIs. 

He struck out 538 ties & walked 294 times with a .332 on base % & .746 OPS.

At first base he played 623 games making 40 errors in 5363 chances with a .993 fielding %.