Social media star Taylor Davis showing he can be a star on the field

Iowa Cubs catcher Taylor Davis became a social media star last season when an entertaining video of the backstop went viral.

Despite what some people may believe, that's not how Davis caught the attention of the Chicago Cubs and that's not why he got his first big-league promotion.

“The only thing that was somewhat tough was if you don’t follow baseball and you thought that’s why I got called up,” Davis said. “Because I don’t believe that. And I think that most people understand that’s not what happened.”

It’s an easy conclusion to draw when you look at the crazy career of Davis, who signed with the Cubs as an nondrafted free agent and slowly worked his way up through the minor leagues. For most of his career, he's been known for his persona, not his play.

A nearly two-minute long video produced by the Iowa Cubs only added to that reputation. As "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" played, the video showed a collection of moments when Davis turned to the team’s video crew whenever it would spotlight him. Some of them included him finding the camera as he signed autographs, warmed up in the bullpen and even during the National Anthem.

It turned into a hit, generating over 470,000 page views on Iowa’s YouTube video. Sports Illustrated and Deadspin picked up on the video and wrote about it. SportsCenter even had Davis on as a guest. And eight days after the video was uploaded, Davis got his first major-league call-up. Even after he got to the majors, that’s all everyone seemed to want to talk about.

“I thought it was funny that I got more publicity for that than going to the big leagues,” Davis said.

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But the video is not why Davis got to the big leagues. Davis had proved himself as a hitter, plating a .297 batting average with 27 doubles and six home runs last season. Jaron Madison, Chicago’s director of player development, said Davis also proved he could call a good game from behind the plate and receive pitches well. And the Cubs — needing another catcher for the stretch run at the end of the 2017 regular season — thought Davis was the perfect choice since he was familiar with a lot of the young arms Chicago had called up when big-league rosters expanded.

“He earned that call-up,” Madison said. “It was by no means a ‘Hey, we’re just going to call Taylor up to do it.’”

But it’s still a stigma Davis has to battle as he tries to prove that he not only earned a promotion but deserves to be back in the majors. It’s nothing new for Davis who has constantly flown under the radar. After the Marlins selected him in the 49th round of the 2008 draft, Davis went unpicked and signed a nondrafted free agent deal with the Cubs.

“He’s never been given anything,” Madison said. “He’s always had to fight and scrape and battle and come on and off the roster and be the 26th man sometimes. He’s always had a chip on his shoulder and I think even more so this year because he feels like he belongs in the big leagues and now he’s just as that point where he wants to prove that he should be on the team full time.”

Davis’ personality is part of what makes him an enduring figure to fans. His unusual swing, which includes a giant leg kick and huge hacks, resembles something you’re more likely to see in an adult recreational league than professional baseball.

“I would call it more of a softball swing,” Madison said.

The swing is so unusual that for years, Cubs coaches have tried tinkering with it.

“They’ve tried to get him a little bit more orthodox and a little bit more balanced and under control,” Madison said. “But at the end of the day, it works for him. He makes it work and now we’re at a point where we let him do what he needs to do, but continue to work with him to try to improve on the movements he’s making.”

The batting style continues to work for Davis, who, through Iowa’s first seven games, put together a .286 batting average with one double and two runs scored. If he keeps hitting and keeps calling good games, Davis could find himself back in the big leagues again if the Cubs need another catcher.

“There’s a lot to like about him,” Madison said. “The whole chip on his shoulder, his makeup as a leader, all that stuff we know because we see him day in and day out and those are things that obviously put him on our radar.”

Not the video. But it has added to his lore with Cubs fans. And for a brief while, it made Davis a household name around baseball. The Iowa Cubs even plan to honor him with a “Starting Catcher” bobblehead of Davis on June 7.

“It’s exciting,” Davis said. I’ve done a lot of podcasts thanks to that and now I’ve got a bobblehead thanks to that, so that’s cool.”

While the video has brought Davis a lot of fame, what’s he’s most proud of is the impact it’s had. After the release, Davis said one fan messaged him on Twitter to say it helped them through a tough time that person was going through.

“The other cool part of the video is that that video was done, for the most part, by college interns,” Davis said. “And those college interns now can use that video, and I hope will use that video as part of their portfolio or whatever it may be to help them with their career.”