Devon Travis

Devon Travis
Travis with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2016
Second baseman
Born: (1991-02-21) February 21, 1991 (age 33)
West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 6, 2015, for the Toronto Blue Jays
Last MLB appearance
September 21, 2018, for the Toronto Blue Jays
MLB statistics
Batting average.274
Home runs35
Runs batted in153
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Devon Anthony Travis (born February 21, 1991) is an American professional baseball coach and former second baseman. He was originally drafted by the Detroit Tigers, and made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut on April 6, 2015 with the Toronto Blue Jays, playing with the team from 2015 to 2018. Travis began his coaching career in 2021 with the GCL Braves.

Early career

In 2003, Travis played in the Little League World Series, representing Boynton Beach, Florida. They finished as the runner-up to the team from Tokyo, Japan.[1] He attended Palm Beach Central High School in Wellington, Florida. He enrolled at Florida State University to play college baseball for the Florida State Seminoles.[2] In 2010, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod Baseball League.[3]

Professional career

Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers selected Travis in the 13th round of the 2012 Major League Baseball draft.[4][5] He started his career with the short-season Connecticut Tigers, hitting .280/.352/.441 with three home runs and 11 runs batted in (RBI) in 25 games.[6]

Travis started the 2013 season with the Class A West Michigan Whitecaps.[7] He was the MVP of the Midwest League All-Star Game after going 2-for-2 with a three-run triple.[8] Travis was promoted to the High-A Lakeland Flying Tigers after hitting .352/.430/.486 with six home runs in 77 games with the Whitecaps.[6][9] He played in 55 games with Lakeland, and batted .350 with 10 home runs and 34 RBI.[6] After the season, he was named the Tigers Minor League Player of the Year,[10][11] and played 18 games for the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League.[6] Travis played the entire 2014 season with the Double-A Erie SeaWolves, batting .298 with 10 home runs and 52 RBI in 100 games played.[6]

Toronto Blue Jays

2014–2015

Travis in 2015

On November 12, 2014, Travis was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for outfielder Anthony Gose.[12] In early 2015 he was named the sixth best second base prospect in baseball,[13] as well as the number nine prospect in the Blue Jays' organization by MLB.[14] After a strong performance in spring training, Travis was announced as the Blue Jays' starting second baseman on March 31, 2015.[15] Travis debuted on April 6 and recorded his first career hit, a solo home run off Chasen Shreve of the New York Yankees. He also recorded two walks and scored two runs as the Blue Jays won 6–1.[16] On April 12, Travis hit a three-run double to help the Blue Jays win 10–7 against the Baltimore Orioles. The hit was initially ruled an error on Travis Snider, however the call was changed on April 16, and Travis was credited with a hit and three RBIs.[17]

Travis was named the Blue Jays Player of the Month for April on May 1.[18] In a 10–7 loss to the Cleveland Indians on May 3, Travis hit his first career grand slam.[19] On May 4, Travis was announced as the winner of the American League Rookie of the Month for April. He batted .325/.393/.625 with six home runs, 17 runs scored, and 19 RBIs.[20][21] After missing five consecutive games with a left shoulder injury, Travis was placed on the disabled list on May 21. To that point in May, he had batted .185 in 14 games.[22] He was activated off the disabled list on June 26.[23] Travis re-injured his shoulder on July 28, and was placed on the disabled list on July 31.[24] On September 11, he was transferred to the 60-day disabled list.[25] The Blue Jays shut down Travis for the remainder of the season on September 17, and announced that he would undergo an exploratory surgery on his shoulder.[26] He finished 2015 with a .304 batting average, eight home runs, and 35 RBI.[2] On November 18, it was announced that Travis had undergone another surgery on his left shoulder, in an attempt to correct a condition called os acromiale which was discovered during the 2015 regular season, and would require 16–20 weeks to recover from the procedure.[27] Two screws were inserted into his shoulder, in an attempt to stabilize the extra bone in his shoulder.[28]

2016–2019

In late April 2016, Travis began taking part in extended spring training games. He was assigned to the Advanced-A Dunedin Blue Jays for rehab on May 13.[28] On May 18, he was promoted to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons to continue rehabbing.[29] On May 25, Travis was activated off the disabled list by the Blue Jays and called up.[30] He hit a walk-off infield single on May 28 to help the Blue Jays defeat the Boston Red Sox 10–9.[31] On August 5, Travis hit two home runs in a game for the first time in his career. Leading off against the Kansas City Royals, Travis hit a solo home run to give the Blue Jays an early 1–0 lead. In the ninth inning, he hit another solo home run off Kelvin Herrera to lift Toronto to a 4–3 victory.[32] On August 8, Travis hit his first career triple, which came as part of a four-hit game against the Tampa Bay Rays.[33] Following a game on August 31, the Blue Jays optioned Travis to the Rookie-Advanced Bluefield Blue Jays. The move was made to allow Josh Thole to be re-signed and have postseason eligibility. As the Bluefield season would end on September 1, Travis could be immediately recalled by Toronto afterward, bypassing the ten-day waiting period.[34] Travis was recalled by the Blue Jays on September 2.[35] He finished the season hitting .300 with 11 home runs and 50 RBI in 101 games.[2] Travis played in the Wild Card Game and the first game of the American League Division Series, but missed the remainder of the ALDS with a bone bruise in his right knee.[36] He played in the first game of the Championship Series, but left in the fifth inning after reaggravating his knee injury. On October 15, Travis was removed from the ALCS roster due to injury, and replaced by Justin Smoak. In accordance with MLB rules, Travis was ruled ineligible to return for the postseason, ending his season.[37] On November 18, he underwent right knee surgery to remove a small flap of cartilage, and was expected to be ready for spring training.[38]

Travis struggled early in the 2017 regular season, batting just .130 at the end of April. However, he improved in May and batted .364.[39] In a 7–6 victory over the Texas Rangers on May 26, he hit the second grand slam of his career as well as his 15th double of the month. In doing so, he set the franchise record for extra-base hits in a month by a second baseman, tied Fred Lewis's franchise record for doubles in the month of May, and became the first second baseman to hit more than one grand slam as a Blue Jay.[40] On June 6, 2017, the Blue Jays placed Travis on the DL due to a bone bruise in his right knee.[41] He subsequently underwent surgery in his knee and was expected to miss 3–4 months, but Travis did not return that season and finished the year playing in only 50 games.[39]

On January 12, 2018, Travis signed a one-year, $1.45 million contract with the Blue Jays.[42] In his first 18 games of 2018, Travis recorded a .148 batting average, one home run, and three RBI's. On April 29, he was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo.[43] He was recalled on May 22.[44] Travis finished the season playing in 103 games, hitting .232 with 11 home runs and 44 RBI's. Travis suffered left knee inflammation early in 2019 spring training, though an MRI revealed no structural damage. However, on March 13, he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus.[45] Travis was outrighted off the Blue Jays roster on November 4, 2019, and elected free agency on November 7.

Coaching career

On March 30, 2021, Travis was announced as a coach for the GCL Braves, the Rookie-level affiliate of the Atlanta Braves.[46]

Personal life

Devon's younger brother, Jordan, is a quarterback for the New York Jets.[47]

References

  1. ^ Greer, Jeff (August 15, 2013). "The Boys of Summer '03: East Boynton all-stars won games and hearts en route to Little League World Series glory". palmbeachpost.com. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c "Devon Travis Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference. Retrieved November 18, 2015.
  3. ^ "Devon Travis". pointstreak.com. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  4. ^ Sipple, George (April 21, 2013). "Once unsure about leaving college, Tigers prospect Devon Travis thrives with Whitecaps". Freep.com. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
  5. ^ "FSU product Travis putting up big numbers in minors". Tallahassee.com. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Devon Travis Minor League Statistics & History". Baseball-Reference. Retrieved November 18, 2015.
  7. ^ "Tigers find plenty of pluses in Lakeland's Devon Travis". Archived from the original on August 22, 2013.
  8. ^ Lenny Padilla (June 19, 2013). "Whitecaps' Devon Travis is hero of Midwest League All-Star Game, hits 3-run triple to win MVP". Mlive.com. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
  9. ^ Lenny Padilla (June 29, 2013). "Midwest League's best hitter, Devon Travis, promoted from Whitecaps to Lakeland". Mlive.com. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
  10. ^ Nightengale, Bobby (September 14, 2013). "Tigers announce Minors Player, Pitcher of Year". mlb.com. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  11. ^ "Florida State Seminoles bio". CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on March 6, 2014. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  12. ^ Chisholm, Gregor. "Blue Jays deal Gose to Tigers for prospect Travis". MLB.com. Archived from the original on November 13, 2014. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  13. ^ Cahill, Teddy (January 26, 2015). "2015 Prospect Watch: Top 10 second basemen". MLB.com. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
  14. ^ "MLB 2015 Prospect Watch". MLB.com. Archived from the original on June 14, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  15. ^ Chisholm, Gregor (March 31, 2015). "Blue Jays name Travis starter at second base". MLB.com. Archived from the original on April 3, 2015. Retrieved March 31, 2015.
  16. ^ Chisholm, Gregor (April 6, 2015). "Patience, power mark Travis' memorable debut". MLB.com. Archived from the original on April 15, 2015. Retrieved April 6, 2015.
  17. ^ Shi Davidi [@ShiDavidi] (April 16, 2015). "Scoring change gives Devon Travis a three-run double Sunday in Baltimore. Play originally scored E9 on Travis Snider" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  18. ^ MacArthur, Scott (May 1, 2015). "Travis hurt; named Jays' top player for April". TSN.ca. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
  19. ^ Snyder, Matt (May 3, 2015). "WATCH: Devon Travis, Trevor Plouffe each hit first career grand slam". cbssports.com. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
  20. ^ MLB [@MLB] (May 4, 2015). "April was good to our AL and NL Rookies of the Month, @DeVoTrAv and Alex Guerrero" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  21. ^ Nicholson-Smith, Ben (May 4, 2015). "Blue Jays' Travis named AL Rookie of the Month". Sportsnet. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
  22. ^ Ross, Jamie (May 21, 2015). "Shoulder injury lands Travis on 15-day DL". MLB.com. Archived from the original on May 25, 2015. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  23. ^ Nicholson-Smith, Ben (June 26, 2015). "Blue Jays activate 2B Travis, option Kawasaki". Sportsnet. Retrieved June 26, 2015.
  24. ^ Kennedy, Brendan (July 31, 2015). "Blue Jays put Devon Travis on disabled list". Toronto Star. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  25. ^ "Blue Jays activate Stroman, transfer Travis to 60-day DL". Sportsnet. September 11, 2015. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
  26. ^ Gleeman, Aaron (September 17, 2015). "Blue Jays shut down Devon Travis for the season". mlb.nbcsports.com. Retrieved September 17, 2015.
  27. ^ Nicholson-Smith, Ben (November 18, 2015). "Jays' Travis sidelined 4-5 months after left shoulder surgery". Sportsnet. Retrieved November 18, 2015.
  28. ^ a b Nicholson-Smith, Ben (May 13, 2016). "Blue Jays' Devon Travis begins rehab assignment with Dunedin". Sportsnet. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  29. ^ Kennedy, Brendan (May 18, 2016). "Rehabbing Devon Travis moves up to Triple-A Bisons". thestar.com. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  30. ^ Nicholson-Smith, Ben (May 25, 2016). "Blue Jays activate 2B Devon Travis from disabled list". Sportsnet. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  31. ^ Chisholm, Gregor; Browne, Ian (May 28, 2016). "Devon Travis' walk-off single lifts Blue Jays". mlb.com. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
  32. ^ "Travis goes deep twice as Blue Jays win opener vs. Royals". Sportsnet. August 5, 2016. Retrieved August 5, 2016.
  33. ^ Chisholm, Gregor; Chastain, Bill (August 8, 2016). "Travis, Encarnacion lead Blue Jays past Rays". mlb.com. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  34. ^ "Blue Jays sign Thole to big-league deal, option Travis to Bluefield". Sportsnet. September 1, 2016. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  35. ^ "Blue Jays add seven players to roster ahead of series vs. Rays". Sportsnet. September 2, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  36. ^ Ravjiani, Alykhan (October 11, 2016). "Travis optimistic he'll be ready for ALCS". MLB.com. Archived from the original on October 12, 2016. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
  37. ^ "Blue Jays replace Travis with Smoak on ALCS roster". Sportsnet. October 15, 2016. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  38. ^ Nicholson-Smith, Ben (November 18, 2016). "Blue Jays' Travis undergoes surgery on right knee". Sportsnet. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
  39. ^ a b "Atkins: 'On the low side, probably three months' for Travis recovery". tsn.ca. June 16, 2017. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
  40. ^ Chisholm, Gregor; Matheson, Keegan (May 27, 2017). "Travis' grand slam powers Blue Jays to victory". MLB.com. Archived from the original on May 27, 2017. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  41. ^ "Blue Jays place Devon Travis on DL with knee injury". sportsnet.ca. June 6, 2017. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
  42. ^ Chisholm, Gregor (January 12, 2018). "Toronto, Donaldson agree on record $23M deal". MLB.com. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  43. ^ Nicholson-Smith, Ben (April 29, 2018). "Blue Jays option Devon Travis to triple-A, call up Carlos Ramirez". Sportsnet. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
  44. ^ Nicholson-Smith, Ben (May 22, 2018). "Blue Jays recall second baseman Devon Travis from triple-A Buffalo". sportsnet.ca. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  45. ^ Armstrong, Laura (March 17, 2019). "Blue Jays' Devon Travis sidelined for at least 4-6 weeks after undergoing another knee surgery". thestar.com. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
  46. ^ "Braves name minor-league managers, staffs". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. March 30, 2021. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
  47. ^ Sonnone, Brendan (September 14, 2022). "OTB: Cardinal exorcism, Buy or Sonnone, and Devon Travis on J-Trav's ascension". 247Sports. Retrieved November 18, 2022. Devon Travis, former FSU baseball standout and brother of Jordan Travis, joins On the Bench...