Brennen Davis hit his first professional home run on June 1, 2019—a towering shot to left field in Dayton, Ohio, just hours after I had witnessed his batting practice performance. That moment stuck with me, not just because of the power of his swing, but because of the sound. The crack of the bat was unmistakable. It’s the kind of noise you hear when a future Major League Baseball player makes contact, and Davis had that sound.
Fast forward to today, and just weeks after being designated for assignment (DFA) by the Cubs, Davis has signed a minor league contract with the New York Yankees.
Once the Cubs’ top prospect for several years, Davis was widely regarded as the real deal—a true five-tool player in the lower minors. By 2021, at just 21 years old and with only one full season of plate appearances, he was already playing in Triple-A. He was climbing the minor league ladder fast, dominating every level and proving himself to be a major talent.
But unfortunately, Davis’ career with the Cubs came to be defined by injuries. While fans may point to his struggles as a cautionary tale about the uncertainty of prospects, it’s crucial to remember that the talent was there. The results on the field were evident, and his attitude and approach were all big-league. The issue wasn’t his ability—it was his body that ultimately let him down.
Since late 2021, I’ve had an article sitting in my drafts with the headline: “Prepare for a Brennen Davis MLB Debut by Watching Every Home Run of His Minor League Career.” From that first homer in Dayton to today, the day he signed with the Yankees, I saved every single one of his home runs, planning to create a mega-video that would accompany the article when he finally made his Cubs debut.
But that debut never came.
I’ve been covering Cubs prospects for nearly a decade, following the careers of thousands of minor leaguers. But I can say with certainty that Brennen Davis was my favorite prospect to ever cover. His potential, his swing, his all-around game—he was special.
So now, as his Cubs tenure comes to a close in bittersweet fashion, I present this video. It’s a compilation of 48 of his home runs—46 regular season blasts from the minors (excluding one homer from the Arizona Complex League), plus his two-homer performance at the Futures Game. It’s a tribute to a player who could’ve been something special, even though injuries prevented him from reaching his full potential with the Cubs.
