Khris Davis rocked back in the chair in front of his locker in the Milwaukee Brewers clubhouse, positioned for the first time next to veteran and former National League Most Valuable Player Ryan Braun.
"I feel great," he said as Opening Day loomed. "I can’t ask for a better situation and I just love coming to the ballpark and being able to compete with my teammates."
The Brewers left fielder expects himself to exceed the 22-homer, 69-RBI season of a year ago. (Through 13 games, the Brewers are 2-11 and Davis is batting .283 with no home runs and 2 RBI.)
OnMilwaukee.com: 2014 was the first time you made the Opening Day roster, and began in this position. What can you apply from that experience to this year?
Khris Davis: Yeah, nothing really changes. It’s all about winning. At the end of the day, that’s like what we make our paper off of. That’s it.
OMC: Last year you went through some adjustments with your approach to hitting – where are you at in that regard at the start of this year?
KD: I mean, like, I’m not different from most hitters – you know, seeing a good pitch and putting a good swing on it. That’s as the most basic it can get. I mean, nobody’s trying to reinvent anything. I’m just taking it pitch by pitch, you know?
OMC: Was there anything specifically this winter that you wanted to add to your game?
KD: Just work on good habits, as far as my routine. If you do that you just get rewarded. It’s just that simple.
OMC: How do you reflect on the start of last year, which wasn’t as good as you wanted?
KD: Yeah, I didn’t start that great. I mean, shoot, it is what it is. I’m not sure you choose to go through those struggles but I have scars from those struggles, you know? That’s all I can do is make mistakes and try not to make them same mistakes over and over.
OMC: Like anything, it heals …
KD: Yeah, everything gets better. That’s all I gotta do is just keep working hard and enjoy it. I’ve been completely happy.
OMC: With one full year under your belt, how excited are you for 2015?
KD: There’s no doubt that every one of my teammates feels the same way I do – they love coming to the ballpark, they love playing this game. It’s from the heart. We play as a team and we learn as a team, go through the same struggles. Those are your boys.
Jim Owczarski is an award-winning sports journalist and comes to Milwaukee by way of the Chicago Sun-Times Media Network.
A three-year Wisconsin resident who has considered Milwaukee a second home for the better part of seven years, he brings to the market experience covering nearly all major and college sports.
To this point in his career, he has been awarded six national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, breaking news and projects. He is also a four-time nominee for the prestigious Peter J. Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, presented by the Chicago Headline Club, and is a two-time winner for Best Sports Story. He has also won numerous other Illinois Press Association, Illinois Associated Press and Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awards.
Jim's career started in earnest as a North Central College (Naperville, Ill.) senior in 2002 when he received a Richter Fellowship to cover the Chicago White Sox in spring training. He was hired by the Naperville Sun in 2003 and moved on to the Aurora Beacon News in 2007 before joining OnMilwaukee.com.
In that time, he has covered the events, news and personalities that make up the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, NCAA football, baseball and men's and women's basketball as well as boxing, mixed martial arts and various U.S. Olympic teams.
Golf aficionados who venture into Illinois have also read Jim in GOLF Chicago Magazine as well as the Chicago District Golfer and Illinois Golfer magazines.
