Inside the rapid rise of Brennen Davis, the future of the Chicago Cubs

Tommy Birch
Des Moines Register

PAPILLION, Neb. — Iowa Cubs hitting coach Desi Wilson stands behind the hitting cage at Werner Park, the home of the Omaha Storm Chasers, as Brennen Davis steps to the plate for his first round of batting practice with the team Tuesday. Davis, who is about to play his first game after just getting called up to Triple-A, rips a ball that flies deep into right field and bounces off the bottom of the wall.

"He’s made strides," Wilson says of Davis. "Big-time strides.”

Those strides are evident to the entire baseball world.

Wilson, who worked with Davis during Cubs' instructional league early in his career, has seen the outfielder gain valuable experience since then. That experience is perhaps the biggest reason why Davis, who is just 21, has rapidly risen through the organization and skyrocketed up minor league baseball evaluators' rankings, becoming one of top prospects in the sport. 

"He’s done a heck of a job," Wilson said. "I’m proud of him."

Brennen Davis made his debut with the Iowa Cubs on Sept. 14 at Werner Park

That work is far from done for Davis, despite being one step from reaching the big leagues for the first time. While he still has a lot to learn and even more experience to gain, the spotlight on him has never been brighter. Fans are waiting and watching every move the young outfielder makes because Davis represents a new era of Chicago Cubs baseball with the team in a rebuild mode. 

"We're going to need some guys to step up and really develop or be acquired through the Cubs," Davis told The Register before Tuesday's game. "It's going to be a journey, but I'm excited to be a part of it."

Davis has already shown he has the skillset and the mindset to handle that journey. 

MORE: Brennen Davis crushes two home runs in his Triple-A Cubs debut

Brennen Davis used to throw oranges in the air and hit them with a little baseball bat as a kid.

Davis learned to hit with oranges 

Davis grew up on an acreage in Arizona.

Living there taught him two of his biggest skills in life: responsibility and how to hit. 

For the responsibility ... he took care of farm animals, including a half a dozen chickens, two goats, two dogs, a cat, two llamas and a horse. 

For the hitting ... when Davis was 4, the acreage had a mini orange grove with about 30 trees. He would wander out there with his mom, picking up oranges about the size of a golf ball that had fallen off the trees. While his mom did yard work, Davis would toss the oranges up one at a time and smack them with a mini baseball bat. 

"He liked doing it," his mother, Jakki Davis-Dollak, said. "It was entertaining for him to challenge himself, even young." 

What impressed his mom wasn't the oranges flying off his bat or that Davis, at such a young age, had the coordination to do all that. What stood out was how long her son was able to keep it up. Non-stop.

Davis-Dollak can't even remember how much time would pass. But Davis would go out there, sometimes multiple times a day, while his mom did yard work or she watched from inside their house in amazement. 

"Being a kid, you look back and you don't realize how much fun and how easy and free the game was," Davis said. 

Brennen Davis grew up on an acreage in Arizona and rode and raised horses.

Baseball always seemed to come easy for him. Davis-Dollak never saw her son struggle with the game. She would know. She was with him, every step of the way.

Davis' father, former Chicago Bulls guard Reggie Theus, has never been a part of his life. Instead, Davis-Dollak raised Davis on her own. She found teams for him to play on and threw him batting practice. She brought in relief when Davis was around 9 because, by that point, the balls she'd throw to him would rocket back at her, smacking her so hard it would cause bruises. 

"It was just dangerous at that point for me," she said with a laugh.

MORE: Cubs infielder Nico Hoerner hoping to salvage some of the season in Iowa

What made Davis such a star was his athleticism and hard work. Davis, who could dunk a basketball in junior high, was usually on the basketball court or a baseball field.

His best friend growing up was Gage Workman, who went on to become a fourth-round 2020 MLB Draft pick by the Detroit Tigers. Workman had a basketball hoop and a batting cage at his house. His dad, Widd Workman, who also played pro baseball, said his son and Davis would hit in the cage at all hours, sometimes as late as 1 a.m. When it was wasn't that late (or early), Widd would throw batting practice for the two. He quickly saw the talent in Davis. 

Brennen Davis grew up on a acreage in Arizona raising animals including Llamas.

"The kid was special," Widd said. 

Everyone saw it.

Davis helped Basha High School in Chandler, Arizona, win a state basketball title his junior year. He did it as a defensive star, practically shutting down the opposing team's offensive star in the title game. But, as good as he was at basketball (he was named the region's defensive player of the year), Davis realized he had pro potential in baseball.

So, he sat out his senior basketball season and got ready for the draft. Evaluators were impressed with his arm, eye, speed and potential power. His high school baseball coach, Jim Schilling, saw those tools really stand out in two games.

One time was when Basha was playing its rival, Perry. Davis was playing center field when a Perry player ripped a hard-hit ball in his direction. Davis crashed into the fence, shattered his sunglasses, cut his nose and still came up with the ball for the third out. He then led off the next half of the inning and blasted what ended up being the game-winning home run.

During another game, Davis threw out a runner trying to tag from third on a sacrifice fly. About 320 feet from home plate, he one-hopped the throw to the catcher, who didn't have to move to catch it and tag the runner out. 

"It looked like a major leaguer did it," Schilling said. "It was unbelievable." 

Davis' baseball talent is obvious. But there's more to him than that.

More:Cubs top prospect Brennen Davis promoted to Triple-A Iowa Cubs

Brennen Davis wanted to pay off his mom's house after he signed with the Cubs. She let him buy her a dog instead.

'He was extremely humble'

As the Cubs zeroed in on making Davis a potential draft pick out of high school in 2018, Matt Dorey, now Chicago's vice president of player development, took a deep dive to try to figure out what kind of player the outfielder was.

Dorey saw plenty of intangibles. Davis checked many of the athletic boxes they were looking for. But as Dorey got to know Davis even more, he discovered another characteristic of the high school star: kindness.  

"It was evident after we did all the background work leading up to that pick that he was extremely humble and really hard-working and just really raised the right way," Dorey said. 

Everyone that knows Davis seems to have a story about his kindness. Widd remembers a time Gage came back from a basketball tryout with Davis. Apparently, some of the guys at the tryout were making fun of another player was who was struggling. Davis stopped the drills and made the bullies stop. 

After the Cubs selected Davis in the second round of the 2018 draft and gave him a $1.1 million signing bonus, he returned to his high school with Under Armour Harper 4 cleats for everyone in the program. Davis found out the sizes for all the players and delivered them himself.

He wanted to pay off his mom's house but she wouldn't let him. Instead, they compromised. Davis bought her an English Labrador puppy named Miley.

Following his 2019 season with thSouth Bend Cubs, Davis bought and donated a bunch of gifts for a local Boys and Girls Clubs of America. He's even sent Christmas cards to members of the Cubs front office. 

"I give a lot of credit to my mom," Davis said. "I was raised the right way. I was raised in a really loving family and she always taught me to give back to the people that don't have as much as you, or make a difference other than the baseball field.

"Baseball is a platform. It's an awesome platform and I'm excited to be able to bring entertainment to fans, but the other aspect of it is giving back and helping out those that are less fortunate." 

Davis' success has come from a relentless work ethic, which was built on the acreage. Mark Johnson, manager of the Double-A Tennessee Smokies, recalls always coming out to the field with Davis before the rest of the team would stretch to hit him fly balls in a mostly empty stadium.

Davis, Johnson said, would routinely be the first at the park and the last to leave.

"When you look at major leaguers and the way they work and the focus of their work and the detail of it, he's on the right path," Johnson said. 

Brennen Davis hit two home runs during the Futures Game earlier this year.

All Cubs fans' eyes on Davis

As Davis stepped into the cage for his first round of Triple-A batting practice on Tuesday, the figurative spotlight was focused on him. And actual cameras were, too.

Justin Walters, the Iowa Cubs' director of video and multimedia arts, recorded Davis' swings. So did Colin Connolly, the media relations manager for the team. Some of the footage Walters recorded was for the Chicago Cubs' station, the Marquee Sports Network. That type of attention comes to some of the best prospects in the game. 

And Davis is certainly that. 

MLB.com ranks him the top prospect in Chicago's organization and the 14th overall in the game. Baseball America ranked him the fifth-best prospect in the system in 2019, the third-best in 2020, the second-best at the start of 2021 and, at mid-season, it moved him up to No. 1.

Davis has proven the attention is justified. He crushed a pair of home runs in the Futures Game earlier this year and was named the MVP. After appearing in 84 games between High-A and Double-A, he was promoted to Triple-A  this week and smacked home runs in his first two at-bats Tuesday against Omaha. 

"He could be an impact player at the major-league level," Johnson said. 

That's what the Cubs are banking on as they retool their roster after trading Kris Bryant, Javier Baez and Anthony Rizzo. The three were once looked at as the future of the organization. Now that they're gone, other players, especially Davis, are being looked at to fill their void and get the Cubs back on track.

It's a responsibility Davis happily accepts. 

"I know there's still stuff to prove here (in Triple-A) and I'm excited for the challenge," Davis said. 

But it may still take some time. Davis has had injuries, including two trips to the injured list in 2019, slow down his pro career. He missed valuable playing time in 2020 when the minor league season was canceled due to COVID-19. Davis did go to the club's alternate site that year. It wasn't the same. Davis also missed the start of the 2021 season after he was hit in the face with a pitch in spring training.

But what Johnson likes about Davis is that it hasn't affected him. Davis still stands in the box ready to attack every pitch and every challenge that comes his way. 

"I'm excited to be able to show fans what I can do," Davis said. 

They are, too.

Tommy Birch, the Register's sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He's the 2018 and 2020 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468. Follow him on Twitter @TommyBirch.