Athletics sign Khris Davis to two-year, $33.5 million contract extension

The Athletics and outfielder/DH Khris Davis have agreed to a two-year contract extension worth $33.5 million, as the team announced Thursday. The San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser was the first to report the terms of the deal:

Davis, 31, has the most home runs in the major leagues since being traded to Oakland before the 2016 season and leads the next-best hitter on the list, Giancarlo Stanton, by 19 homers, as the MLB Stats Twitter account pointed out Thursday. He led the majors with 48 homers last season, posting an impressive 138 OPS+ in a ballpark that’s not exactly a band box, and he had a ridiculous 161 OPS+ with a majors-best 10 homers this season entering play on Thursday.

His lack of contact-hitting skills (he’s posted a .247 batting average in four straight seasons and is a .248 career hitter), solid but unspectacular plate discipline (.320 career OBP and an 8.4% career walk rate), and total unplayability in the field (he has -22 career defensive runs saved in left field and started just 10 games in the field last season) evidently kept him from earning more. With that said, pure power hitters often maintain their skills into their mid- or late 30s (think Nelson Cruz and Edwin Encarnacion), so Davis may be in position to earn another decently lucrative deal once this one expires.