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PORT ST. LUCIE — Ike Davis was soliciting suggestions yesterday to where he could find a good slice of pizza.
“I haven’t had any in a month,” Davis said. “I’m due to crush some carbs.”
He has settled for crushing fastballs and anything else thrown his way during the first two days of live batting practice at the Mets spring training complex.
A year ago, the Mets entered camp with a vague idea Daniel Murphy would be their first baseman, but this season the position is as much a slam dunk as any in the lineup.
Davis secured the job by hitting .264 with 19 homers and 71 RBIs as a rookie while bringing a potential Gold Glove to first base, and he’s enjoying the fact he arrived at this spring training not having to prove he belongs in the major leagues.
“I’ve just got to get ready for the season,” said the 23-year-old, who was among the first position players to arrive in camp. “Last year was different just in that I had to open eyes and show what I could do so maybe I would get called up. This year I just need to be prepared to play the season. As long as I’m doing well in the season, that’s all that really matters.”
Manager Terry Collins is setting the bar high, after becoming enamored with Davis last season. Collins, as the organization’s minor-league field coordinator, received a good look at Davis at Triple-A Buffalo during the season’s first month. Davis joined the Mets in late April — with Murphy on the disabled list and Mike Jacobs struggling — and never looked back.
The highlight reel included several catches that ended with Davis tumbling over the dugout railing and the kind of left-handed power Carlos Delgado used to bring to the Mets’ lineup.
“[Davis] is going to become one of the premier first basemen in all of baseball,” Collins said. “He’s already as good defensively as there is in either league. He has absolutely enormous power, and I think he’s going to learn to be a better hitter and therefore a little more selective hitter.
“He’s going to get better pitches to hit, and he’s going to do a lot of damage. I can see Ike Davis in the future being that certainly legitimate No. 4 hitter.”
What does Collins see in Davis defensively?
“His range to his right is incredible, and those left-handed first basemen, the [Will] Clarks and some of those guys, that’s what they did,” Collins said. “That just changes the whole defense of the infield. The second baseman can play up the middle, and it changes the whole dynamics of how they play.”
Along the way, Davis has become a recognizable member of the team — maybe not to the extent of David Wright and Jose Reyes, but recognizable nonetheless. Back home near Phoenix, he’s the same kid the locals have been following since his days in Little League and starring for Arizona State.
“In New York I got noticed last year,” Davis said. “If they follow the Mets at all, I don’t look like anyone else. I’m very tall. I have a beard, a big nose, what are you going to do? I’ve got to stand out in a crowd a little bit.”