Henry Davis had just hit a home run off Shohei Ohtani, a 410-foot no-doubter that showcased his prodigious power and was followed by a casual bat flip as if it hadn’t just come against the best player in baseball.

Ohtani got some revenge in the bottom of the fourth inning Friday night, scoring easily from first when Davis bobbled a Mickey Moniak double that bounced off the right-field wall at Angel Stadium and then threw behind the runner to second base instead of hitting the cutoff. Davis answered with another solo shot, a 410-footer in the sixth.

It was the latest example of the dichotomy of Davis, drafted first overall in 2021 as a catcher but learning how to play right field on the fly in the major leagues. The Pittsburgh Pirates are willing to live with his rookie mistakes for the tradeoff his bat brings, especially after he became the first MLB player to homer twice off Ohtani in one game.

“I’m trying to do everything I can to contribute and have a quality at-bat, and I’m working on the defense constantly,” Davis told the Tribune-Review. “I’ve been trying to dive into it with everything I have. I’m not going to be perfect right now, but I’m chasing that progress. I’m out there every day doing early work and figuring out things I need to work on to be better.”

Through his first 27 games, Davis has delivered at the plate by batting .295/.391/.463. Over his last seven games, the 23-year-old Davis has displayed why the Pirates fast-tracked him to the majors after only 518 plate appearances in 118 games in the minors: He’s hitting .458 (11 for 24) with a 1.427 OPS, three homers, four RBIs and six runs scored.

Davis’ defense, however, remains a work in progress. Over that same seven-game span, he has committed three errors in right field and made mishaps that allowed runs to score in three different games. His minus-4 defensive runs saved ranks as the worst of any Pirates outfielder, per Sports Info Solutions.

The inexperience is evident: When Davis bobbled Patrick Bailey’s single to right field on July 14, it allowed the San Francisco Giants to score the winning run in a 6-4 loss. Two days later, Henry Davis bobbled a J.D. Davis RBI single to right for another error that allowed a run to score in an 8-4 loss. Against Cleveland on Tuesday, Davis mishandled Myles Straw’s single to right in the first inning of a 10-1 loss.

Not that Davis is about to start making excuses for his errors.

“If I’m out there every night, I’ve got to secure the ball and do my job,” Davis said. “I’m definitely still learning. But I just have to make the play. Those are routine. Just catch the ball. It (stinks). I need to come through for the team. I’m out there because they trust me. I need to make those plays.”

Pirates first-base coach Tarrik Brock, who works with the outfielders, is tutoring Davis on the finer points of his new position and preaching patience as he deals with the learning curve at the highest level.

“Henry is just getting a crash course in Outfield 101, 102 and 103,” Brock said. “When he’s out there, he’s a right fielder to me. He has to go out there and make plays, make good decisions and understand when to go and when not to go on balls close to the wall, make sure he’s throwing the ball to the right base or to the cutoff man.

“You’re going to see the inexperience creep up at times, so I’ve been extremely patient and showing a lot of mercy in that. Then getting him to understand, too, that you’ve had years of reps catching and now you’re new to this and having him give himself some mercy, as well.”

The Pirates promised patience when they promoted Davis on June 19. Manager Derek Shelton warned there would be growing pains for the rookie in right field, just as there were for Jack Suwinski and Ji Hwan Bae when they moved to center field early this season.

“There’s growing pains for any outfielder that plays the outfield coming into the big leagues because you can’t simulate the third deck, and that’s the biggest part of it,” Shelton said. “We’ve seen Jack get better here. We’ve seen Bae get better here. So I think that part of it is just watching and monitoring what Henry’s doing and how he’s going about his work.”

Where Davis dismissed the third deck of the stadium as a factor in his debut, many of the movements in the outfield are not natural to him. A catcher through every level of his career, he played all of 15 games in right field in the minors before his promotion to the Pirates. Not only is Davis adjusting to wearing a bigger glove but also tracking fly balls, using different footwork patterns and knowing where to throw.

So Brock started by telling him to keep his chin up. That wasn’t for motivational reasons but rather some old outfield advice on how to deal with Davis’ early discomfort when chasing fly balls toward the wall. Brock shared a tip for Davis to run with his chin up and his mouth open to stabilize his jaw and keep his head from bouncing.

The focus shifted to his lateral movement on ground balls and concentrating on catching a bouncing ball with a bigger glove. Brock has emphasized the need for Davis to be light as he can on his feet so he catches the ball soft, like a receiver, and comes up in position to throw.

“It’s different when you’re catching and you’re going up to get it,” Brock said, mimicking a catcher snapping his mitt forward. “The other thing was his footwork. As a catcher, everything was right to left, then left to target as quickly as you can, popping up. Here, it’s glove-side foot, which will be his left foot, then stepping with the back foot through instead of going behind, which causes them to slow down.”

Knowing where to throw is another issue. When behind the plate, Davis could hear audibles about when a runner was attempting to steal and know to pop out of his squat stance and throw to second base. Now, as he’s fielding a ball, those audibles can be drowned out by the cheers of the crowd and becoming instinctive about where to make the throw.

Davis has shown off a strong arm that plays in right field, making throws for close calls at second base. But he’s still learning where to throw and when to hit the cutoff, which can cause problems.

“We’re just giving him tips: If you’re playing straight up and you move four to five steps and there’s a runner on first, then you’re going to second base,” Brock said. “It’s getting him to understand that it’s the speed of the runner, the speed of the ball and the distance you travel will dictate whether you’re going after the runner or just checking it down, so to speak, and throwing the ball to the cutoff man going to second base. You want him to make the play. But I want him to make the right play under control.

“His arm does play, and he’ll get better at knowing when to use it. Right now he’s coming up and he’s just gunslinging for everybody. It’s like, ‘All right, we’ve got 15 shots and you’ve wasted seven early on some plays.’ There’s things that he’ll learn as he goes along. Everything is quick, and you play hard. The one thing about life, your greatest strength becomes your greatest weakness, as well, when it’s not under control and properly used. So we’re trying to help him in those areas.”

The 6-foot, 210-pound Davis has impressed Pirates outfielders with his talent and tools and willingness to learn, relying on his baseball instincts and love for the game while trying to improve.

“He’s an athlete. He’ll figure it out,” Bryan Reynolds said. “Obviously, that’s not his main position. It’s hard to learn a new position in the big leagues, but he’s doing it. He’s going to figure it out. He’s athletic and has a strong arm.”

Davis impressed Suwinski with his work ethic, from doing pregame fielding drills with Brock to shagging flies during early hitting and batting practice at game speed.

“He’ll be busting his butt out there. He’s not taking it off,” Suwinski said. “It’s new and he’s learning, but his instincts are great, so it’s not a liability at all. He’s got a great baseball mind, so in that way I don’t have to cover that much (ground) for him. I keep telling him to just keep being aggressive, keep going after balls and to look at each other, communicate and talk. He has no problem doing that, so we’re good. He wants to impact the team, and I believe he will in big ways.”

The Pirates haven’t ruled out Davis playing behind the plate, either. So he’s sitting in on advance meetings and talking about game-planning with fellow catchers Austin Hedges and Endy Rodriguez. Davis’ defensive workouts involve receiving, blocking and throwing with the velocity machine and catching bullpen sessions, all in preparation to learn pitchers’ attack plans for when he’s catching in a game.

Davis made his major league catching debut against Milwaukee on July 2, when he pinch-hit for Hedges then caught lefty Ryan Borucki and righty Dauri Moreta in the ninth inning of the 6-3 loss.

“It was good. I enjoyed it,” Davis said. “I wish it was in a game we ended up winning, but hopefully in the future.”

For now, Davis isn’t worrying about whether he’s in right field or behind the plate, as long as his name is in the starting lineup for the Pirates. Despite starting the season at Double-A Altoona, Davis has had his eyes on playing in Pittsburgh since he was drafted.

“When I look at the lineup, I just prepare the best I can for wherever I am and attack it,” Davis said. “Honestly, I haven’t thought about it much. Wherever I’m written in the lineup, I have to do my best to help the team win. This is where I want to be.”

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