Home run champ Chris Davis an elite defender? Believe it

7:02 PM ET

BALTIMORE — In the fifth inning on Tuesday, the first game for the Baltimore Orioles since J.J. Hardy went on the disabled list with a broken foot, new shortstop Manny Machado ranged far to his glove side to make a lunging spinning grab-and-throw to just barely retire Alex Rodriguez. But the most impressive part of the play might have come at first base, where Chris Davis made a backhand scoop of Machado’s one-hop throw while doing the splits.

Plays like that have become almost routine — not in the average sense, but in the daily sense — for Davis.

“I feel like every day, he’s doing that once or twice a game and saving a play,” says Chris Tillman, who started yesterday’s series opener against the Yankees and was the beneficiary of Davis’ latest leather work. “Obviously I’m biased, but I think he’s the best first baseman in the league right now.”

Tillman isn’t the only one.

“Chris has played first base as well as anyone will want to see it played,” said manager Buck Showalter after …

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