SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Spring Training has been a slow progression for Khris Davis, but his bat heated up in the Rangers' 12-9 win over the Reds at Surprise Stadium on Thursday night.
Davis had more hits than he had in his previous nine Cactus League games combined, going 3-for-4 with two home runs and four RBIs. Breaking out of a 2-for-22 slump, Davis put Texas ahead with his second home run, a three-run shot that was part of a six-run sixth inning.
It was the second multi-homer game by a Rangers hitter this spring, as Jason Martin homered twice on March 10 against the Mariners.
Manager Chris Woodward said Davis had put a little pressure on himself to get better in-game results.
“It's been a slow progression of looking better, I think,” Woodward said. “I've been raving about this guy's work. The hitting coach [Luis Ortiz] has been raving about this guy's work every day. We know what this guy's done in the past, and if we can get somewhere near that, we’ve got a pretty big impact bat. It's been fun to watch, and hopefully, the trend continues.”
Davis was acquired by the Rangers in the trade that sent shortstop Elvis Andrus to the A's on Feb. 6. Although Davis got off to a slow start this spring, he hit a home run in a "B" game on Wednesday and had a few solid at-bats, according to Woodward.
Woodward said that Davis has been making good decisions at the plate, but he has been slow on a lot of fastballs and was trying to get the rhythm of his swing down, feeling the ball off the bat.
“I've seen it before, especially with power guys, once they feel the baseball come off their bat, then their body remembers,” Woodward said. "It knows this is the pathway to the ball, and you can see right there, it's a really positive sign for him. Because if we can get that bat going, it provides us a lot of value in the middle.”
The Rangers are in need of a power bat in the middle of the lineup, preferably a right-handed one, with David Dahl, Joey Gallo and Rougned Odor all hitting from the left side. With Willie Calhoun out with a groin strain and likely to start the season on the injured list, Texas doesn't have many other options at designated hitter, with Ronald Guzmán and Nate Lowe competing for the starting job at first base.
“I think we all want K.D. to be the solution [for a power hitter in the lineup],” Woodward said. “Obviously, there's still a little bit left in Spring Training, and we've still got to see more to solidify it. I don't know what we're going to do at the end. I mean, we've still got to make that decision. But it's trending in the right direction.”
Roster moves
On Thursday, the Rangers assigned six non-roster invitees to the Minor League workout group: pitchers Sam Gaviglio and Jimmy Herget, catcher John Hicks, infielders Yonny Hernandez and Curtis Terry and outfielder Adolis Garcia.
The Rangers have 47 players remaining in Major League camp.