BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - Austin Davis, a left-handed, freshman pitcher from Scottsdale, AZ, took the mound at Hardt Field, ready to make his first start for the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners against the University of California, Santa Barbara. His parents flew from Arizona to watch his debut. They didn't see too much of their son: He lasted only one and a third innings, giving up six runs.
On June 20, 2018, Davis showed how far he had come from that first collegiate start when took the mound for the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Ballpark, becoming the first player from Bakersfield's baseball program to reach the majors.
A few days before, Davis was at a barbecue with teammates from the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. When he and his wife went back to their apartment his minor league manager, Gary Jones, called him.
"He told me I was coming up," said Davis, who was drafted by the Phillies in the 12th round of the 2014 MLB Draft. "I couldn't believe it. I didn't know if I was laughing or crying or what was going on, but it was a fun moment. And it was really cool for my wife to be there."
Bakersfield Head Coach Jeremy Beard said having a player from the program reach the major leagues can only help with recruiting, especially at the national stage.
When he arrived at Bakersfield, Davis said he possessed "an erratic fastball, a decent change-up – I always had a good feel for my change-up -- a bad curve ball and a worse slider. When I left I had a little bit better command of fastballs, and a lot more velocity. That was the biggest jump, the velocity, and then a solid change-up, and the slider is still a work in progress."
Davis had planned to attend a junior college when some Bakersfield players were drafted by big league clubs, opening up scholarship funds. "It was exciting," Davis said when then-coach Bill Kernen saw him pitch and asked him to play for the school.
Prior to his first start for the Roadrunners, Davis warmed up in the bullpen and went to the field to stretch with his teammates, and then stuck around to watch batting practice.
"Looking back, I should have just rested," he said, "and I was too anxious, (and) I went out there and threw and and it did not go well."
The coach, however, had confidence in him and he stayed in the starting rotation, "and I started to figure it out."
Later in season, he again started against Santa Barbara and picked up his first win against the team that handed him his first loss.
At the collegiate level, Davis noted players were obviously better than competition he faced in high school. What wasn't obvious at first was how differently the game was played.
Against Santa Barbara, Davis faced current teammate Rhys Hoskins, and he fell behind him three balls and no strikes. Davis figured he'd throw a strike and Hoskins would take the pitch. "He hit a 3-0 single off me, and I'm thinking, 'what's this guy doing hitting 3-0?' But he got a fastball and hit it. I guess I'm lucky it was only a single, but I was more worried about what I was doing." One of the lessons Davis learned was, "You take the focus off yourself and how you're going to attack the hitter."
"Hitters in high school, hitters in college, hitters in the minor leagues and hitters in the major leagues – they are all hitters, have certain tendencies, they hit certain pitches well and don't hit certain pitchers well. The higher you get the better they are at more things and have less weaknesses, but every hitter has weaknesses you can expose," he said.
If pitching at the collegiate level was an adjustment for Davis, playing pro ball was much more adventuresome.
"At college I played with a bunch of guys who are from the same area, west coast guys, similar culture, and you get thrown into minor league baseball, and it has has guys from the Dominican and Venezuela," said Davis. "There's a language barrier, and you have the travel and all that stuff that comes along with the minor leagues, and it's a change, but in a good way; it takes you out of what you've known and gives you some unknowns, you see how baseball's played around the world, too."
He spent three seasons in the club's minor league system with middling results. To help move his career forward, Davis worked with retired Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay, a Cy Young Award winner who was working with young pitchers on the mental side of the game.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Halladay told Davis hitters were all the same. "Yes, they get better. But hitters are hitters," the Cy Young Award Winner told Davis. He also advised against thinking too much – it's still baseball, even in the major leagues, he told him.
During his time with the Phillies, Davis learned a few things, including how to prepare himself for each batter:
"I think it's everything, the way you attack hitters mentally before you even throw a pitch determines a lot of your success," said Davis. "I think how you feel about yourself, how you feel about the way you're throwing, pitching, your value as a person in general regardless of how you're being successful or not is everything."
When he first arrived in at Citizen's Bank Park in Philadelphia, Davis thought about Halladay, who died in November of 2017.
"Coming into club house ... was a really cool moment for me," said Davis. "To walk in where he did all this work added a little extra level of significance for me." Prior to his first major league appearance, David also thought of Halladay while in the team's bullpen, the same spot Halladay would warm up.
In a day game between the Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals, Jake Arrieta had started for the Phillies, and pitched six innings, leaving with the score was tied 3 to 3. Davis made his debut in the majors when he came in to start the seventh.
"I don't think a lot of guys come up and have their first outing be in a tie game in the seventh inning, so that was a special moment. I came in and had two lefties, gave up a single and then got a strike out. Overall it was a good day," said Davis. "I think it was (Edubray) Ramos came in after me and got got the next two guys out, to make it a clean inning so I didn't walk away with a 27.00 ERA, that was good. I made sure when I got off the mound I took a second to look around and appreciate it and realize that this is a special day."
Davis finished the 2018 season with a 1-2 record and an ERA of 4.15. He struck out 38 batters in 34.2 innings. He won his first game on July 20 against the San Diego Padres.
"I know when I'm done I'll be able to look back and appreciate it more...but there's some wisdom to taking a second and enjoying it because if you don't then I think it kind of looms over you, like wow, what I'm doing? But you just take a second and enjoy it and move on and past it and say. all right, lets go play. Same baseball I've always played," he said.
