A look at Schneider’s 2024 season.
Davis Schneider was called up in early August 2023 and started amazing, going 9 for 13 with 2 home runs in his first three games.
He had some ups and downs in his two months with the Jays, a nine-game hit streak and a, well, nine-game hitless streak, but he was terrific in his 35 games, hitting .276/.404/.606 with 8 home runs in just 141 PA.
No one considered him a top prospect, so the numbers seemed to come out of nowhere, but he quickly became a fan favourite. The Jays sold a lot of Schneider jerseys.
But could he do it again in 2024?
Spring training didn’t go well, .170/.270/.321 in 44 at bats. I thought he should start the season in Buffalo, but he made the opening roster.
How did it go?
| Age | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | OPS+ | GDP | HBP | SH | SF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | 135 | 454 | 397 | 48 | 76 | 19 | 1 | 13 | 46 | 6 | 0 | 47 | 144 | .191 | .282 | .343 | .625 | 78 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Baseball Reference has him at 0.0 WAR, FanGraphs 0.4, giving the Jays a value of $2.8 million.
Davis had a .277 wOBA ( last year .424) and an 80 wRC+ (down from 176 last year).
His BABIP was .257 (.369 last year).
Davis’s walk rate was 10.4% (down from 14.9), and his strikeout rate was 31.7% (up from 30.5).
His line drive rate was up (20.5% down from 27.4). The ground ball rate was up (29.8% from 20.5). And fly ball rate was down (49.6% from 5.1). 10.2% of his fly balls left the park (down from 21.1).
Soft contact was up a bit (14.3% from 13.7). Hard contact was down a little (33.7% from 35.6).
Davis hit right-handers (.203/.301/.366) better than left-handers (.165/.239/.289).
He his much better at home (.213/.281/.362) than on the road (.168/.283/.321).
And, he hit better in the first half (.218/.314/.391) than the second half (.140/.219/.250).
Schneider by month:
April: .262/.351/.462 with 3 home runs, 7 walks and 19 strikeouts in 25 games.
May: .233/.355/.477 with 3 home runs, 16 walks and 29 strikeouts in 24 games.
June: .169/.231/.301 with 3 home runs, 7 walks and 27 strikeouts in 27 games.
July: .211/.303/.246 with 0 home runs, 8 walks and 22 strikeouts in 21 games.
August: .064/.154/.085 with 0 home runs, 5 walks and 23 strikeouts in 18 games.
September: .170/.234/.373 with 3 home runs, 4 walks and 24 strikeouts in 20 games.
With RISP he hit .193/.296/.296.
He was good in high-leverage spots: .246/.317/.464.
On defense:
- Left field: 93 games. 2 errors, .988 PA (league average .988). Fangraphs has him at a -0.9 UZr/150 and a +1 outs above average.
- Second base: 56 games. No errors. Fangraphs had him at a 8.9 UZR/150 and a +1 outs above average.
I thought he looked pretty good in both positions. He made the plays. The team started using him as a defensive replacement at second base later in the season. That suggested that they thought his defense had improved at the position. ‘
FanGraphs has him at a -0.3 runs compared to the average baserunner. He stole 6 bases without being caught.
Where Davis his in the batting order in games he started:
- 1st: 27 games, .195/.266/.372.
- 2nd: 4 games, .188/.316/.438.
- 4th: 3 games, .250/.286/.250.
- 5th: 16 games, .185/.313/.333.
- 6th: 21 games, .222/.309/.375.
- 7th: 24 games, .163/.272/.288.
- 8th: 12 games, .186/.255/.349.
The Jays were 47-60 in games he started. His longest hitting streak was 4 games. Longest on base was 9 games. Most games without a home run, 51.
Schneider started the season well, making me think I was wrong to believe he should have started in the minors, but it went downhill quickly.
His inability to hit lefties at all hurt since he was in a platoon role for most of the year’s second half.
It amazes me that a guy under .200 had the fourth most at-bats on the team. I used to judge managers by how many at-bats they gave to hitters who ended up with terrible numbers (say below .200), but that was more in the day when the manager could do more to choose his lineup, back when they had more bench players to work with. But still, writing a player’s name into a lineup who hit .191 repeatedly seems like a mistake on the part of the manager.
Or, more likely these days, the GM. We were armpit-deep in middle infielders who could play the outfield in a pinch, so why would Schneider get so much playing time? Or why would he be on the roster?
There is no excuse for him playing left field so much. We did have other options.
Oh, well.
He seemed like a good teammate. And he didn’t seem to let his offensive troubles affect him too much.
Before the season, we asked:
- If the over/under on Davis’s games played is 110 I’d take the: 35% were right taking the over.
- Most of his playing time would come at: 18% were right saying left field. Most said second, 21% said Buffalo.
- If the over/under on his OPS+ is 100: 32% were right taking the under.
- In three years Davis will be?: Well, we don’t know yet. 8% said star. 36% said regular. 39% said utility player. 9% said ‘still trying to establish his career’. 8% said ‘a memory’,