Player Profile: Davis works on becoming all-around good player on Cape

By David Lauterbach/PA Announcer

Dylan Davis didn’t play little league after he was 10. But when he does take the time to look back at his short little league career, he remembers one specific hit more than the rest.

“I hit my first home run when I was eight,” Davis said. “It was a pretty cool experience. First home run as a little kid you’re not really expecting it, and then the ball ends up going out.”

The outfielder from Oregon State didn’t make it to Falmouth until the beginning of July because of the Beavers’ College World Series run. But when he got here, he quickly added to his lifetime home run total that he started when he was eight.

In his first seven games, Davis hit .407 with five home runs and 14 RBI. But his first homer in a Commodores’ uniform wasn’t his first in the Cape League.

Davis played for the Brewster Whitecaps last summer and hit .226 with one homer and four RBI in just 10 games.  This season, the Cape saw an entirely different Davis.

During the regular season, the Commodore hit .317 with six home runs and 34 RBIs in 29 games. The success Davis has achieved in Falmouth could be a result of what he wanted to work on when he came back to the Cape for a second summer.

“Getting deeper into counts, being more selective, looking for the pitch I want and not just swinging at the pitcher’s pitch,” Davis said. “I want to be an all-around good player.”

And working on becoming a better all-around player is something Davis has done. The slugger from Oregon State doesn’t just hit, he also throws the ball very hard. Davis’ fastball has reached as high as 99 miles per hour while on the Cape.

That type of duel threat is something that truly makes Davis an all-around player. But when it comes to which one he likes more between hitting and pitching, Davis doesn’t really have a preference.

“I just want to play baseball,” Davis said. “People always ask me what I want to do, and same answer every time, I don’t care as long as I’m playing.”

Since he came to Falmouth, Davis hasn’t stopped playing. The Commodore has played in every game since he arrived, and loved it.

“It’s been a fun year,” Davis said. “I compare these guys to our college team and we bonded pretty quickly and had a lot of fun.”

Having fun while playing baseball is something coaches talk about all the time, because, after all, baseball is a kid’s game that adults play.

Even though he’s an adult now, Davis can always look back to his childhood to remember what it’s like to play the game like a kid and strive to connect for that first home run.