Following another hitless game Sunday, Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis is closing in on some dubious baseball history.
Davis went 0 for 4 in his team's blowout loss to Yankees (NYY 15, BAL 3), extending his hitless streak to 44 consecutive at-bats. He is only two at-bats away from tying the longest ever hitless streak by a non-pitcher.
Here are the longest position player hitless streaks in baseball history:
Eugenio Velez, 2010-11: 0 for 46Bill Bergen, 1909: 0 for 45Dave Campbell, 1973: 0 for 45Craig Counsell, 2001: 0 for 45Chris Davis, 2018-19: 0 for 44Davis last recorded a base hit Sept. 14, 2018 when he doubled against then-White Sox righty James Shields. He is 0 for 44 with six walks and 27 strikeouts since his last hit, including 0 for 23 with four walks and 13 strikeouts so far in 2019. Dating back to last season, Davis is an 1-for-62 slump.
Last season Davis authored a miserable .168/.243/.296 batting line in 522 plate appearances, which amounts to minus-2.8 WAR. There have been over 61,000 individual position player seasons in baseball history, and, by WAR, Davis' 2018 season is one of the 20 worst. He was historically terrible last year.
The Orioles signed Davis to a seven-year contract worth $161 million in January 2016, and they still owe him approximately $92 million through 2022. The contract seemed ill-advised the day it was signed, but I don't think even Davis' biggest detractors saw him being this bad.
