Power Outage: Oakland Athletics Search for Power

Ike Davis, First Base

Feb 25, 2015; Mesa, AZ, USA; Oakland Athletics first baseman Ike Davis (17) offers a thumbs up during a workout at Fitch Park. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Much like DH, first base was not a set position for the A’s in 2014. Six players manned the spot overall with Brandon Moss leading the pack with 54 starts. As stated earlier, Brandon Moss was able to tally 25 home runs, which was about 17% of the teams entire total of home runs.

Finding a replacement who can even provide half of the production that Moss was able to produce will be key to Oakland’s success in 2015.

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Enter Davis. While he may be something of an underwhelming option at first base, he does have a prior track record that proves he may be able to succeed given the opportunity. In 2012 Davis swatted 32 home runs — which at the time ranked 5th in the NL.

Davis has hit for double digit home runs in all but one of his five year MLB career. The year he failed to hit double digit homers, he battled injuries and only had 146 at-bats across 36 games.

Davis has been decently consistent but has dealt with injury problems over the years. He may seem like a below average first baseman, but if he were to stay healthy, he might be a sleeper to produce above average results.

While Davis will most likely not produce  Moss-esque numbers, barring an injury, he will be a solid first baseman for the A’s.

Next: Ben Zobrist