MOBILE, Alabama - Kentrail Davis began playing baseball at the Boys and Girls Club in Theodore, a start that led him to the Huntsville Stars, who open a five-game Southern League series at Hank Aaron Stadium against the Mobile BayBears today.
"I started out with them when I was probably 5 or 6," Davis recalled of his baseball beginnings. "And ever since then, I've been playing baseball.
"I started out at the Boys and Girls Club, and then I played over at Boykin Park when I was probably around 11 and 12, and then I went over to TAA (Theodore Athletic Association)."
After park ball, Davis starred at Theodore High School.
"I would say my best moment, probably my best game ever, was in high school," Davis said. "I went back-to-back-to-back. I had three home runs and a triple in one game. That was a good feeling. That was something I'll never forget."
The BayBears and Stars are scheduled to play a doubleheader at 5:05 p.m. today at The Hank, then square off at 7:05 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:05 p.m. Sunday.
Kentrail Davis is greeted by his Theodore teammates with low fives after hitting a home run against visiting Fairhope in a high school baseball game won by the Bobcats 14-7 on April 3, 2007. (Press-Register file)
"When I come back, it's a lot of memories," Davis said while standing in the Aaron Stadium outfield on Thursday afternoon. "When I come here, it reminds me where I come from and how far I've come and how much I've accomplished so far. I can remember coming to this stadium for the Hank Aaron tournament in high school, and you're like, 'Oh, man. We get to play on this nice field.'
"Looking back at it, I've come so far and I'm so close to my final goal, and it's great to look back at it and see how much fun it was and the things I've come through to be here."
The Stars visit to Mobile comes with perks for the 24-year-old Davis.
"It's home," he said. "Home is home. I get to go home and see my family and sleep in my own bed. Being home is always a good feeling, and to come here and play in front of my friends and family is just a great time."
This won't be the first time that Davis has come to Mobile with the Stars.
The left-handed hitter left Tennessee after two years when the Milwaukee Brewers used a first-round draft pick on him. Davis split his initial pro year between the Midwest and Florida State leagues, then spent 2011 with the Brevard County Manatees of the FSL.
Last season at Huntsville, he hit .274 with 22 doubles, seven triples, seven home runs and 19 stolen bases. Davis played in 28 spring-training games with the Brewers this year. He hit .262 with six home runs, 16 RBIs and 13 stolen bases in 28 games.
But he was returned to Double-A Huntsville to play right field for the Stars to begin this season.
"You always want to go up," Davis said. "But like my manager (Darnell Coles) here told me: 'You had a good season last year. This is not the first time things like this have happened.' They just felt like there were some things I could come back here and work on.
"The one thing I want to do is to use this as motivation to get out of here. Not press about it. There was a little disappointment at first, but I sat back on it. I'm just going to out there and play. It's out of my hands. If I prove that I'm ready to go up, they'll move me up."
Sometimes, Davis needs to remember baseball at the Boys and Girls Club when the business side of the pro game starts to become overwhelming.
"Baseball is a job, but at the same time it's a game, too," Davis said. "The reason I started playing baseball was because it was fun. Sometimes I do have to think back to that and say, 'Hey, this is a game. Try not to take it so serious where you really don't like it anymore.' I just try to go back to that.
"The season is long and you want to reach that goal so bad that you can get caught up in everything and you start pressing a little bit. I have to check myself every now and then and say, 'Hey, man: Just relax and calm down.'"
After his strong showing in spring training, Davis enters the series against the BayBears with a .283 batting average, 15 runs, five doubles, two homers and five stolen bases in 25 games.
"It was fun, but spring training is spring training," he said. "You're pretty much just getting ready for the season. I had a chance to go to big league camp this year for the first time, and it was great. I learned a lot. I got to be around a big league manager and a big league coaching staff and just got to see how the big leaguers do things. I was fortunate enough to be over there and just learn a lot from those guys. I feel like it helped me a lot, and I've used some of those things that I learned in spring training in this season so far."
Follow Mark Inabinett on Twitter: Follow @AMarkG1