A new season with new management means a fresh start for Chris Davis

For Orioles first baseman Chris Davis, a miserable 2018 season got even worse at the end. Davis went 1-for-37 over his last 10 games with 20 strikeouts and then didn't play in the season's last 10 games. Why was never really explained.

The player who seemed to get at-bats every night during his huge struggles was not seen much as the 2018 season wound down.

The combination of a big salary and little production has not been good for Davis with Orioles fans. They criticize him morning, noon and night - and are ready for more the next day. It doesn't stop and the only way that will change is for Davis to return to the days when he was bashing baseballs, like when he hit 53 homers in 2013 and 47 two years later.

In 2018, Davis hit .168/.243/.296 with 192 strikeouts, 16 homers and 49 RBIs. The same player that produced an OPS of 1.004 in 2013 and .923 in 2015 posted a 2018 OPS of .539.

Here is a look at Davis from 2015 through 2018:
Batting average: .262/.221/.215/.168.
OPS: .923/.792/.732/.539.
Home runs: 47/38/26/16.
FanGraphs WAR: 5.4/2.8/0.1/minus-3.1.

Last season, Davis posted a July OPS of .695 and that was his highest in any month. He didn't get it going at home (.180 average) or the road (.156), against lefties (.144) or right-handers (.178) in the first half (.158) or the second (.185).

But now Davis gets a fresh start. For the first time, he'll play for manager Brandon Hyde and general manager Mike Elias. He will presumably have a new hitting coach to work with and likely get some new ideas via whatever the team can come up to help Davis via analytics.

Elias has been publicly very supportive of Davis and during the Winter Meetings he met with Davis' agent, Scott Boras, to discuss ways to get his bat going.

"He's on the team, he's on this team for a while," Elias said in Las Vegas. "I just want to see his production get better. He's a big part of this roster. He's a big part of his lineup. This team is much worse when he's not a dangerous force in the middle of the lineup, so he's here. He's a good teammate, he cares a lot about the Orioles, but he was personally just extremely frustrated with the year he had and it wore on him. And I think turning the page to 2019, new front office, new manager, probably some new coaches will be good for him."

Will Davis make more adjustments next season? Will he figure out a way to beat the shift sometimes? He was the most shifted-against player in the majors last year. This comes at a time when Davis is hitting the ball on the ground more. During his big 2015, his groundball rate was 31.8 percent and it was 39.6 percent last year. Can't homer on a grounder and can't reach on most grounders bashed into the shift on the right side of the infield.

Will Hyde bat Davis in the middle of the lineup or drop him down in the order? Davis hit fifth in 57 percent of his plate appearances last season and it seemed like even more than that.

Every returning Oriole will get a fresh start with a new manager, management team and an increased use of analytics to help them. Maybe none needs a new beginning more than Davis.