PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- At PiratesFest in January, Henry Davis candidly said there was nothing that he liked from his offensive performance in the Majors last year.

This Spring Training though? It’s been going much better.

Davis homered in his third straight spring game Monday in a 7-3 Pirates win over the Rays at Charlotte Sports Park.

Davis went to Driveline this winter to have his swing reassessed and make adjustments off of it, which are translating early -- as evidenced by him pulling a home run against an Aaron Civale breaking ball Monday.

"It's still Spring Training, but most encouraged by the damage [done] on breaking balls, which is something I felt I didn't do enough of last year. … I can cover all the different pitch types. It's something I take a lot of pride in. But that was one of the reasons I made the changes I did."

Davis is in competition for one of two catching spots the Pirates will carry on Opening Day this year. The team has committed to Yasmani Grandal being one of those catchers and receiving a good chunk of the playing time, but ideally, it would be a tandem with him and the second catcher.

Davis’ offensive performance this spring -- hitting .400 with a 1.444 OPS in 18 plate appearances -- plus perceived improvements behind the plate are making a strong case for him to be that guy.

Skenes bounces back
Fellow No. 1 overall pick Paul Skenes’ second Spring Training outing got off to a rocky start when he surrendered a home run to Amed Rosario off a 100 mph fastball that landed in the Pirates’ bullpen.

“Who doesn’t know who he is?” Rosario said via Rays interpreter Manny Navarro. “You know it because I was a prospect at one point. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Skenes bounced back quickly, though, striking out three over two innings.

What impressed Davis the most, though, wasn’t the velocity, but rather, Skenes’ demeanor.

“I thought the best thing about the homer, and not that I would have expected anything differently, [but] he just didn’t care,” Davis said. “It was about the next pitch. No emotion, and you wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference in his face after any of the strikeouts. It was very encouraging.”

Davis, who dealt with his share of adversity in his rookie season, recognizes the value of quickly moving on like Skenes did.

“It just shows his maturity and how he can handle things,” Davis said. “Obviously there are things at stake and he’s pitching his butt off. He wants to be the best he can be. Being able to handle it when it doesn’t go your way and being able to be right back in it, it’s a good indicator of things going forward.”

Chandler makes first impression
Bubba Chandler was one of five players reassigned or optioned after Monday’s game, including infielder Andres Alvarez, right-hander Thomas Harrington and left-handers Anthony Solometo and Jackson Wolf. Chandler did get his first Spring Training action Monday, tossing a clean seventh inning.

While he only appeared in one game, Chandler made a good impression in his first big league camp.

“With him, it's not only growing up maturity-wise, but his body looks different than last year when he walked into Pirate City for Minor League camp,” manager Derek Shelton said. “This is a guy we think very highly of, we were fortunate to get where we got him and make sure that he transitioned to baseball and not football. I'm excited to watch him throw, because I think this is a guy that has really good stuff and is going to be a part of what we're doing in the future."