Butch Davis to be the Twins 1B Coach

[Seth Stohs]

The Twins just announced via Twitter that Butch Davis is their new first base coach.

 

https://twitter.com/Twins/status/539491687186563073

 

It appears that he has been a hitting coach in the Orioles organization since the mid-90s. 

 

The announcement comes on the heels of the reports that the Twins were turned down by Delino DeShields and Rich Renteria for coaching positions. 

[Oldgoat_MN]

Finally! Someone who we know almost nothing about and who may not be able to find Minnesota on a map of the USA.

 

All those hoping for an outsider will be happy now.

 

Perfect.

[Seth Stohs]

More important that his Major league playing time, and lots of minor league playing time was that he had a cameo in the movie Bull Durham: via Scott Povolny on Twitter. 

[Halsey Hall]

Yes, they were looking outside the organization for sure.  Not their first choice, but wasted no time in announcing it.  And, we need a Butch!

[Kirby_waved_at_me]

More important that his Major league playing time, and lots of minor league playing time was that he had a cameo in the movie Bull Durham: via Scott Povolny on Twitter. 

 

Great! No more lollygagging!

 

ALSO - Davis was an outfielder, and had some decent speed in the Minors:

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=davis-001wal

[jokin]

 

 

For Davis, (due to his hustling approach to the game), his name came up often. His major league time was spent with five different organizations, including 18 games spent in Baltimore over two seasons.

 

"It did, it really did," Davis said when it was pointed out the frequency that his name came up. "And I was glad. Because, you can't go back and find one coach that will tell you that I never hustled.                                            

 

"That's one thing I believe in," Davis continued. "One thing about baseball players is, you can do two things that I know. You can be on time. And you can hustle. Those two things I know you can do and that's what we expect of you."

[jokin]

 

 

"What you go in with is a positive attitude," Davis said. "If you work hard enough and you do good enough, there might be a cup of coffee at the end of the season for you. And that's what I was able to get because of my dedication to the organization, my hard work, my good work ethic."

 

He also believed he brought something else to the teams he played on.

"I'd like to think I was a model citizen in the clubhouse for the younger kids," Davis said. "I'd like to think I brought that to the table, as  well."

[old nurse]

http://www.greatest21days.com/2014/09/interview-part-2-butch-davis-simple-fact.html

It links a couple other stories about Davis.

[Kirby_waved_at_me]

y'all beat me to it, I was reading the same links - he seems like a pretty good guy to have in the clubhouse and I think he'll be great for the Twins' young outfielders!

[jokin]

Butch Davis journeymanned through 10 seasons in AAA w/ this slashline:  

 

.299/.340/.455/(.795)

 

(Talk about typecasting for his role in Bull Durham...)

[JB_Iowa]

You'd have thought they might opt for a little more youth.  This staff should be able to get a group rate on hip replacements.

 

5/7 born before 1961.  At least I don't feel so old anymore,

[Linus]

You know the old saying "An expert is the guy from out of town."

 

Now, onto signing an outfielder that can play center or left, and one more starting pitcher.  That's good enough for me - we can let spring training begin at that point.

[Steven Buhr]

Yeah it kind of looks like he lived the part of Crash Davis in the film. Wonder if he ended up with an Annie Savoy of his own.

 

I'm struggling a bit to figure out what it was that made him stand out as the best candidate for the open coaching spot, though. I know for some folks the total lack of connection to the Twins on any level is qualification enough, but one would assume the Twins would look for something more than that.

 

Sounds like a good guy and potentially a good selection, though.

[Linus]

You'd have thought they might opt for a little more youth.  This staff should be able to get a group rate on hip replacements.

 

5/7 born before 1961.  At least I don't feel so old anymore,

Hey, I was born in 1961 and am still an immature kid - plenty of youth.

[Seth Stohs]

SDBuhr - I'm guessing they talked to other front offices about guys who would be in line for a big league job. The Twins front office would likely offer up names of deserving coaches in their system if asked who another team should consider. 

 

Also, a possible connection is the Andy MacPhail angle, since he was in Baltimore for so long. Maybe some Red Wings officials have opinions on him from his several years in Rochester.

 

Could be a lot of things.

[Steven Buhr]

SDBuhr - I'm guessing they talked to other front offices about guys who would be in line for a big league job. The Twins front office would likely offer up names of deserving coaches in their system if asked who another team should consider. 

 

Also, a possible connection is the Andy MacPhail angle, since he was in Baltimore for so long. Maybe some Red Wings officials have opinions on him from his several years in Rochester.

 

Could be a lot of things.

Like maybe TR said, "look you virtually stole JJ Hardy from us for nothing, you have to give us something more to even up that deal."

 

And they said, "OK take Butch Davis."?

[jokin]

Yeah it kind of looks like he lived the part of Crash Davis in the film. Wonder if he ended up with an Annie Savoy of his own.

 

I'm struggling a bit to figure out what it was that made him stand out as the best candidate for the open coaching spot, though. I know for some folks the total lack of connection to the Twins on any level is qualification enough, but one would assume the Twins would look for something more than that.

 

Sounds like a good guy and potentially a good selection, though.

 

Given that it has taken quite a bit of time, and the reports that they have been turned down by others, maybe the Twins were looking for something else, but the prospective nominees perceived better opportunities elsewhere?  

 

I'm a bit surprised that Molitor didn't get (or wasn't granted?) another hire from his Brewers or Jays days.

[Steven Buhr]

Given that it has taken quite a bit of time, and the reports that they have been turned down by others, maybe the Twins were looking for something else, but the prospective nominees perceived better opportunities elsewhere?  

 

I'm a bit surprised that Molitor didn't get (or wasn't granted?) another hire from his Brewers or Jays days.

I'm actually surprised this job didn't stay internal.

 

1B coach, in my limited perception, is pretty much a bottom rung MLB coaching position and it seems to me that, if you were going to use any of your big league coaching jobs to reward an "organization guy" who has done well at the minor league levels over a period of years, that's the job you would give him. Then, if he proves himself, he moves up to 3B, bench, hitting, etc.

 

I did think Molitor would hire somebody he knew well from his time with other organizations. That said, in the past 15 years, maybe he hasn't spent much time maintaining those friendships.

[tobi0040]

Looks like they get a 1B coach and a weight room advisor as an add on.

[Craig Arko]

I want to breathe through my eyelids now.

[Mike Sixel]

It does seem odd they'd not go younger, or from within, agreed. I am just glad we can go back to talking about players for a while now....

[twinsfan34]

Nice to know the Twins staff was hitting the video during Thanksgiving Break to find a coach.

[Otwins]

My hope is that he can help the outfield defense.

[TheLeviathan]

Am I the only one that keeps thinking Butch Husky every time I pull this thread up?

[jokin]

Derek Wetmore has some of the best stuff on Butch Davis.  I really like this comment on who his most influential mentors have been, and why.  Showalter and Kirby are two of the best at what they do:

 

 

 

2. Just who were the people in the Baltimore organization that Davis leaned on?

 

"Well, I did learn from Wayne Kirby. He's the first base coach there with the Baltimore Orioles. I've been working under him, as well when I go to Major League spring training, I go up to him and work with some of the Major League ballplayers there. So I'm also learning from them," Davis said. "Probably more so just watching Buck Showalter on a daily basis, how he goes about his daily work. It's really intriguing. Learning from them, I think I've learned a lot."

I covered the Orioles for a summer and two of the most enjoyable people to be around from the team were Showalter and Kirby. Showalter has built a reputation as one of the smartest - or at least most attentive - people in baseball and I think that perception is well-earned. Kirby was the loudest guy in the clubhouse - including all the players - and almost always had a smile on his face that he was willing to spread to the rest of the room. He was quick with a verbal jab.

 

My first reaction when Davis said he'd learned from those two was that it was a good pair to count among a coach's mentors.

 

Davis said he shares some personality traits with Kirby, the Orioles first base coach who also worked with outfielder position. But Davis said he's not as outwardly gregarious.

 

"No, I'm not saying I'm a loud outgoing guy. I'm like him in a way," Davis said. "I'm very easy to get along with. I'm open, I'm positive, just like he is. And I've got to say it once more: he's a hard worker and that's my trait."

 

 

As noted, Kirby is the OF coach for the Orioles, an extremely positive and innovative guy in obtaining results, and the O's have produced not one, but five Gold Gloves in his coaching tenure in the OF, including two in 2014:

 

 

The never-completely-on, never-completely-off contract saga of Nick Markakis is another day older and still somewhere in limbo. The Gold Glove he won Tuesday had to make the waiting easier, though. Adam Jones and J.J. Hardy joined Markakis in winning a hat trick of hardware.

 

You had to like the way Jones called it a team award, acknowledged the help of the coaching staff of Wayne Kirby, who works with the outfielders, and Bobby Dickerson, who works with the infielders, and cited the rich history of Gold Glove winners the Baltimore Orioles have been known for.

 

 

Kirby isn't just a teacher in the OF.  Rookie Jonathan Schoop swears by him as the key motivator responsible for turning his season around.  If Davis has, as it appears on the surface, some of Kirby's successful and upbeat positive approach and work ethic, along with Showalter's organizational acumen for squeezing out improvements on the margin, plus incorporating some of the aspects of Molitor's sabre-cerebral approach at making improvements on the basepaths and with the shifts, the Twins might have made a real value-added hire for working with all of these young Twins OFers.

[DocBauer]

Crazy! Of all the coaching positions to be filled, THIS is the one that caught me by surprise!

 

I remember Butch, vaguely, back in the day as a player. In fact, I had been thinking he was up more and longer than his reality shows. The things I ready today seem very positive in both attitude and coaching acumen. But to me, he's the biggest unknown quantity of the staff. Maybe that's a good thing.

 

I had convinced myself the last spot would be Cora, or Fernandez, or someone similar. I guess I was close to the mark of the idea with the Delino rumors. I'm not saying it won't be a great hire, but it's the one that stumps me the most at this point.

[tobi0040]

Am I the only one that keeps thinking Butch Husky every time I pull this thread up?

 

I kept thinking the old coach from Miami and Cleveland Brows.