In first year of new deal, Chris Davis dealt with big expectations

It is hard to call a season where a player hit 38 homers disappointing, but 2016 probably was exactly that for Orioles first baseman Chris Davis. Even in a year when only seven American League players homered more.

Expectations have been very high for Davis since he hit 53 homers, drove in 138 runs, had an OPS of 1.004 and finished third for the MVP in 2013.

Those expectations probably soared even higher when he signed a seven-year deal worth $161 million in January. It is easily the richest contract in Orioles history, and when a player is making that much, big numbers are obviously expected.

With that whopper of a contract comes pressure from fans to produce. And when Davis struggled last year, he felt the brunt of some fan criticism. But during an interview late in the season, he said the pressure and the criticism that comes with the contract is very fair.

"Absolutely. I think that the pressure I put on myself is really the reason that I'm where I'm at," Davis said. "I've always been very critical of myself and always expected a lot of myself. That comes with the territory when you sign a contract of that size. That's part of it.

"For me, that is why I've taken the mindset (of) what can I do to help us win? I know I will be here the next few years, and my goal is to go out and do everything I can to put a winning product on the field."

Davis' stats the last two years:
2015: .262 average, .361 OBP, .562 slugging, .923 OPS, 47 HRs, 117 RBIs, 100 runs, 208 strikeouts.
2016: .221 average, .332 OBP, .459 slugging, .792 OPS, 38 HRs, 84 RBIs, 99 runs, 219 strikeouts.

In the first year of his new contract, Davis hit nine fewer homers, drove in 33 fewer runs, saw his slugging drop 103 points and his OPS drop 131 points.

Since 2012, Davis leads the majors with 197 homers and ranks fifth with 496 RBIs. In that time, he has hit .249/.340/.518 with an OPS of .858, averaging 39.4 homers and 99.2 RBIs per year. So his 2016 season fell short of his five-year average stats since 2012.

Davis played solid defense and is a Gold Glove finalist at first base, along with Kansas City's Eric Hosmer and Mitch Moreland of Texas. Davis has never won a Gold Glove and the winners will be announced Nov. 8. Davis is athletic and has good speed for his size with a good arm. His defense helped somewhat offset a subpar year on offense.

One factor that may have hurt Davis' run production this year was a left hand injury. He is not sure exactly how and when it happened, but in a September interview, he said it bothered him for most of this season. But he played through it.

"I mean, it's been an issue all year," Davis said. "So it's not going to get any better until I have time to rest and obviously I am not going to rest right now with what's at hand. Swinging a bat is painful.

"I couldn't tell you if it was one specific event (that caused the discomfort)," he said. "It's something I've been dealing with all season. Obviously, I haven't been myself all season, but that's part of it. Unfortunately, we have bodies that aren't invincible. When you play a physical game every day for months at a time, you are going to get nicks and bruises. You move on and keep going."

Now Davis will keep going into the 2017 season, the second year of his seven-year deal. Last year, the fans seemed to feel Davis hit too few homers, had too few big hits and too many strikeouts. The pressure to live up to the contract won't ease up on the first sacker until the fans feel he produces big numbers to live up the big dollars.