Mets, Giants' former slugger signs in Japan after 72 MLB home runs

Billy Heyen

Mets, Giants' former slugger signs in Japan after 72 MLB home runs image

J.D. Davis is heading across the Pacific.

The Seibu Lions announced on Friday that they have signed the former MLB slugger. Seibu plays in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball.

The 32-year old was once a strong hitter for the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants.

In 2019, he blasted 22 homers and hit .307 for the Mets.

Then in 2023, Davis had an 18-homer season for the Giants with a career-high 69 RBI.

In between, he was a part-time player who also spent time with the Astros, Athletics, Yankees and Angels.

This season with the Angels, Davis was 1-for-9.

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Most of 2025 for Davis was spent at Triple-A Salt Lake, where he was hitting .294 with 10 homers.

All told, Davis has 72 MLB home runs and a .257 career batting average.

At his age, Davis probably has one more chance to impress and make it back to the majors.

Seibu certainly won't mind adding a proven MLB hitter, and now it's up to Davis to prove himself to see if he can make it back stateside for another opportunity down the road.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle