Our 10th best reliever in the 2017 Valley League season is Harrisonburg’s Davis Kirkpatrick, from East Carolina!
Davis was a repeat performer in the VBL in 2017, as he also spent 2016 with the league, albeit a few miles up I-81, with the New Market Rebels.
Here are his stats in the VBL:
| VBL | ERA | W | L | G | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | BAVG | WIP | BB/9 | K/9 |
| 2017 | 2.19 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 28.7 | 25 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 26 | 0.245 | 0.976 | 0.9 | 8.2 |
| 2016 | 5.27 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 27.3 | 24 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 33 | 0.229 | 1.465 | 5.3 | 10.9 |
(Davis was a starter for the Rebs in 2016, for the record.) He also threw for Morehead City of the Coastal Plains League in 2014, where he went 1-4, 6.30, with a 1.733 WHIP, 6.9 BB/9, and 9.9 K/9 in 30 innings pitched.
From pitchers considered for this list, Davis finished 3rd in innings pitched, 9th in WHIP, and 4th BB/9.
Davis had a game for the ages on June 9th against Charlottesville, in which he entered the game in the 7th inning, and pitched until the….. 14th! He threw 8 shutout innings in relief that night, while giving up 6 hits, 0 walks, and striking out 6. He threw a whopping 92 pitches (not many for 8 innings, it’s true), and earned the win.
Davis was injured in 2014 and underwent Tommy John surgery, so his college stats have a conspicuous gap:
| ECU | ERA | W | L | G | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | WHIP | BB/9 | K/9 |
| 2014 | 5.87 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 23.0 | 20 | 17 | 15 | 13 | 18 | 1.435 | 5.1 | 7.0 |
| 2016 | 6.48 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 25.0 | 37 | 21 | 18 | 12 | 14 | 1.960 | 4.3 | 5.0 |
| 2017 | 5.25 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 24.0 | 28 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 20 | 1.667 | 4.5 | 7.5 |
Davis was named to the ECU Director of Athletics Honor Roll in Fall of 2015, and American Athletic Conference All-Academic Team (2016). His father, Donnie, is Offensive Coordinator and QB coach at JMU.
Congrats, Davis!
