Chili Davis responds to comments from John Henry

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Chili Davis insisted he didn’t feel offended. But he sure had his talking points ready in response.

Without mentioning him by name, Red Sox principal owner John Henry last month appeared to blame the former hitting instructor for the team’s uneven offensive performance in 2017. Henry repeatedly noted that the Red Sox didn’t have the right offensive “approach’’ last season when they finished last in the American League in homers.

"We would have had significant power last year if we had a different approach,'' said Henry in his annual spring training media availability. "That's my opinion.

On Monday, Davis finally addressed the implications, and said while was made aware of the remarks, didn’t feel slighted.

“I don’t think that was directed at me,’’ said Davis, now the hitting coach for the Chicago Cubs, who visited the Red Sox here Monday night. “I just think it was a statement made by him. He’s looking for a different kind of offense, or more power in the offense. We did what we had to do last year to win the division and move on to the playoffs. Unfortunately, we didn’t have success in the playoffs. That was disappointing, too.

“I don’t take that personally. I think the time that I spent in Boston, John Henry and the whole Boston organization was very, very good to me. I have no ill feelings at all.’’

Reminded that Henry seemed critical of the Sox appearing too passive at the plate, resulting in the low home run total, Davis grew a bit more defensive of his tenure with the Sox.

“I worked with what I know and what I thought the players did well,’’ said Davis. “Unfortunately, we didn’t win the World Series. But I thought we did a real good job as an offense, as a team. I mean, when you look at the powerhouse teams in the division, Baltimore hit more home runs than us, but they went home. The Yankees hit more runs than us, but they didn’t win the division. Toronto hit more home runs than us and they went home.

“So I thought we did what we needed to do to win that division and that was the first step to win it and move on to the playoffs and hopefully win in the playoffs, which we didn’t do. That was disappointing.’’

Despite the diminished power numbers in 2017, the Red Sox led all of baseball in runs scored in 2016, with Davis in the role of hitting coach.

“I take a lot of pride in my offense,’’ he said. “The year before was a great year. Granted, we had David Ortiz in the lineup the year before; we didn’t have him last year. But I thought the players that we had (in 2017) did the best they could throughout the year to try to win ballgames and it showed. We won the division.’’

Improving hitters’ launch angles is now all the rage in baseball, but Davis won’t apologize for not promoting that more last year.

“I don’t know if I can teach Dustin Pedroia launch angle, or Christian Vazquez launch angle,’’ said Davis, chuckling. “I don’t know if that’s going to help them or hurt them. I think I worked with my hitters on what works best for them. We try to add to that. The launch angle thing isn’t something I’m opposed to. But if you’re not a launch angle hitter, why would you be hitting fly balls? You’re just going to make outs.’’