MIDLAND Growing up, Midland RockHounds shortstop Logan Davidson was always around baseball.
His father, Mark Davidson, was an outfielder who played in the majors from 1986 to 1991 with the Minnesota Twins and Houston Astros.
He was part of the Twins’ team that won the 1987 World Series.
The younger Davidson, who was born in 1997, drew inspiration from his father’s playing career as a young child growing up in North Carolina.
“He played in the major leagues and won a World Series, so I was pretty interested from the get go,” Davidson said.
The shortstop picked up his first lessons in batting on the Davidson family farm, hitting buckets from both sides of the plate on a cage located on the property.
Those lessons and the early interest led Davidson to this point, where he is a key contributor for the RockHounds in his first year with the franchise.
He is currently No. 5 on the Oakland Athletics’ top prospects list, sitting two spots behind teammate Nick Allen.
Before Davidson made himself known with the RockHounds, he was selected by the A’s with the 29th pick in the first round of the 2019 MLB Draft.
He had the option of playing professionally after his high school graduation in 2016, when he was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 30th round of that year’s draft.
Instead he chose to play collegiately at Clemson University, like his father before him.
Davidson has become a force for the RockHounds, catching the eye of manager Bobby Crosby.
“Defensively, he’s been off the charts,” Crosby said. “No matter where I put him, if I put him at shortstop or at third, he’s been phenomenal.”
The manager also said he isn’t worried about the young shortstop as a batter, but he does want to see him get a little more consistent in that aspect of his game.
Before Midland started its latest home series against the Corpus Christi Hooks, Davidson had a .213 batting percentage and was second on the team with 33 RBIs.
On defense, he has contributed 74 putouts with a majority of those coming from the shortstop position.
When not on the field as a shortstop, he’ll play at second base or third base.
The Charlotte, North Carolina native agrees that he has some work to do on his batting, but he thinks some quick fixes will get his numbers up to where he wants them to be.
“I can definitely swing the bat, I can hit from both sides of the plate. There’s no doubt about that,” Davidson said. “Making the adjustments and learning from the game, in and out every day, that’s the main thing for me.”
The shortstop was excited when he was assigned to the Midland franchise in late February because he knew of some of the players he would be teaming up with, like Allen and shortstop Jeremy Eierman.
Getting to play for a manager like Crosby, who was also an A’s first round pick, also was a plus.
“It was a special feeling knowing I was going to come here and get a chance to start out my first full year in Double A Midland,” Davidson said. “It’s a good place to play with really good competition; I’m excited to finish out the second half.”
As one of the organization’s top prospects, Davidson is staying prepared in case he gets called a call within the farm system at any point in the season.
He has split time at shortstop this year with Allen, but will play a bigger role at that position with Allen out representing Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics.
“Definitely a little different infield look right now, but nothing that these guys can’t handle,” Davidson said.
He’s ready to team up with second baseman Max Schuemann and third baseman Jonah Bride to build some chemistry as the regular season moves forward.
Crosby said there’s no doubt in his mind that Davidson is a major league player.
“He’s the type of guy who knows he’s gonna be a big leaguer, he knows he’s gonna be very good,” Crosby said. “As long as he keeps that mindset, which I know he will, he’s gonna be a big leaguer for a long time.”
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