It’s time for the Pittsburgh Pirates to give Henry Davis the playing time he needs.

They owe it to themselves to know what they have.

When the Pirates drafted Davis No. 1 overall in 2021, they freed up room to draft high-impact high school players to expensive deals and save pool money on Davis. The strategy landed them Bubba Chandler, but hasn’t resulted in success with the most important selection.

Davis was drafted as a solid hitter out of Louisville who needed to work on his defense. Fast forward to 2025, and Davis has become one of the organization’s best defensive catchers while trying to figure out how to hit MLB pitching. He’s starting to put it together.

Davis, 25, debuted in 2023 and looked overwhelmed. The Pirates didn’t trust his defense and trotted him out in right field for a large portion of his early career. Davis would appear off the bench in pinch-hit opportunities and serve as the DH. It was a shocking surprise to see him catch during his rookie year.

In 62 games, Davis slashed .213/.302/.351 with 10 doubles, seven home runs, and 24 RBIs in 225 at-bats. He struck out 69 times and finished the year with a -1.5 WAR. Davis caught only two of the 419.1 innings he saw the field and never earned the chance to prove himself. The Pirates didn’t believe he could catch in the bigs, yet, and wanted to try and take advantage of his bat.

Things changed in 2024 when Davis strictly went back to catching. While he spent most of the season with Triple-A Indianapolis, Davis caught 271.1 innings over 27 games and steadily improved, earning a .993 fielding percentage with nine assists and two errors.

It’s evident Davis spent a significant amount of time working on his craft over the winter and in spring training. Davis has thrown out five of 18 attempted base stealers (27.8%) and has one of the quickest pop times in baseball (89th percentile, according to Baseball Savant).

His framing still needs work, but isn’t as glaring of a concern with the ABS balls and strikes system likely coming to the majors in the next year or two. Davis has registered eight assists through 145.1 innings and hasn’t made an error.

The difference this season comes in the batter’s box. Davis slashed .144/.242/.212 with a .453 OPS in 27 games last year. This season, he’s slashing .204/.291/.347 with two home runs and six RBIs.

His numbers still aren’t eye-popping in any way, but improved compared to his batting average hovering around .150 two weeks ago.

Davis has at least one hit in five of his last seven games and three multi-hit games, including his last two. He entered the game after Joey Bart was removed with what was later described as concussion-like symptoms and immediately made an impact. Davis slugged a two-run homer, 432 feet, off Cy Young winning right-hander Corbin Burnes to cut the Bucs’ deficit to 6-2 on Tuesday.

The Pirates fought their way back to win 9-6, and Davis further contributed with a double to right center. He finished the day 2-for-3 with a run scored. Typically batting in the No. 9 spot, the Pirates moved Davis up to No. 6 in the batting order on Wednesday. In his last four games, Davis is batting .400 with an OPS over 1.000.

Pittsburgh placed Bart on the 7-day concussion list and activated Endy Rodriguez from the 10-day IL. Davis, who has become Paul Skenes’ personal catcher to form the first-ever No. 1 overall pick battery, delivered another two-hit day and drove in the game’s first run in the second.

Davis has earned additional playing time and needs to play five times in a seven-game stretch. Even if he needs to hit a day at DH and Andrew McCutchen plays the field, the Pirates need to know if Davis can play or is a wasted top selection. They need to give Davis a two-month stretch to prove himself.

What does this team have to play for? They’re not in playoff contention. They’re well over 10 games back in the division. The rest of this season needs to be dedicated to playing young players and discovering who you can build the team around for 2026. Who will be here to help Paul Skenes?

Henry Davis is starting to prove he can be that guy. Maybe it’s just a good two-week stretch. But maybe Davis is putting it together. We won’t know the answer until two or three months later… but to know the answer, Davis has to play the same amount as Oneil Cruz and Bryan Reynolds.

There’s no better time. It’s time to see if the third time in the Majors is the charm for the former No. 1 pick who showed promise in the minor leagues. It’s up to Davis to prove the Pirates right… or ultimately that they’re wrong.