OAKLAND -- He might still look like Khris Davis when he dons his familiar number two Oakland A's jersey, but this is not the real Khris Davis.
After leading Major League Baseball with 48 home runs last season and 133 over the past three years, the A's slugger has been stuck on 16 for the last 5 1/2 weeks. Davis is hitting just .133 in the month of July and has seen his season average plummet to .223.
Davis had arguably the worst game of his career in Friday's 5-2 loss to Texas, going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts, and leaving seven runners on base. He saw a total of 15 pitches, with 11 of them resulting in a swing and miss.
"He wants to be there for his guys," A's manager Bob Melvin said after the game. "Maybe you start pressing a little bit and trying to do too much. Right now, it's not going for him. He needs a good game. He needs a couple of games to get his confidence back."
Davis is now 1-for-23 in his last six games, with 11 strikeouts. He insists he's fully healthy following oblique and hand injuries earlier this year and Melvin sees no sign of a physical ailment.
"His swings are healthy again," Melvin said. "It's not like we saw before when he had some hand problems and some side problems. His swings are fine. He's just going through a drought."
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Last week, the A's moved Davis down from fourth to sixth in the lineup to try to get him back on track. Obviously, that hasn't worked, as he's just 6-for-39 since the switch.
Davis has been working hard in the batting cage, but Oakland hitting coach Darren Bush doesn't see any glaring mechanical issue to correct.
"His swings might be off a little bit here and there, but for the most part, for the year, it's been pretty close, pretty similar," Bush told NBC Sports California. "He's battled some injuries through the year, but he wants to succeed. He works hard and when you don't get the success that you want, sometimes you just add a little pressure on yourself. That's all."
Davis actually showed signs of coming out of his slump last week in Minnesota when he went 4-for-12 with a double and five RBI over a three-game span. Unfortunately, that momentum was short-lived.
Perhaps Davis has felt some extra pressure since signing his two-year, $33.5 million contract extension in April. He had 10 home runs at that point; he's hit just six since.
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"It's just, don't press," Bush said of his advice for Davis. "Know who you are, know you're a good hitter, and just be ready. It can change in one swing. It can change in one at-bat. You just have to continue to grind and go through it and keep fighting."
For now, all the A's can do is wait and hope that their best hitter rediscovers his identity.
