Davidson acclimating to Majors, coming off bench

CINCINNATI -- For D-backs third baseman Matt Davidson, his promotion to the big leagues 10 days ago has been quite a learning experience.

Davidson is seeing towns like Pittsburgh and Cincinnati for the first time. He's also learning about the pace and intensity of a Major League game.

"It's a lot of fun with the electricity and how intense every single game is," he said. "We were having a rough year in [Triple-A] Reno, so it's definitely a lot different."

Something else that's different is the amount of consistent at-bats Davidson is getting.

With Reno, he was in the lineup every night, compiling a .278 batting average to go with 16 homers and 68 RBIs. It was good enough to earn a berth in the All-Star Futures Game, where he was named Most Valuable Player.

With the D-backs, though, Davidson's playing time has not been regular. He is 3-for-14 since his promotion, and he also has three plate appearances as a pinch-hitter.

"It's definitely different," Davidson said of coming off the bench. "I've never done it ever in my career, but I think it's cool. It gives me time to get acclimated, work out in the weight room, take a lot of ground balls, take some more swings than I normally do."

Instead of taking pregame grounders just to get loose, Davidson takes them at game intensity. Same thing with batting practice.

"To come off and pinch-hit, that's a tough deal, it really is," D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said. "But regardless of whether you're starting every day, or you're playing every other day or every third day and you're pinch-hitting occasionally, it's part of the process of learning how to be successful. So it's tough. It's tough coming off the bench and doing that, but that's what we've got."