Davon Roland

### Former Teams

Philadelphia Freedom (2000-2008)New York Bombers (2009-2014)Dallas Rangers (2015-2016)Toulouse Bears (2017)Detroit Titans (2017)

## Career

### Awards

1X ABA MVP3X ABA Silver Slugger1X ABA Champion

​Davon Roland (born November 14, 1977), is an American former professional baseball right fielder. He played 19 seasons in the American Baseball Association and the French Baseball Association, playing for the Philadelphia Freedom, New York Bombers, Dallas Rangers, Toulouse Bears and Detroit Titans. He amassed a .310 batting average, 76 home runs, 492 runs batted in, 440 runs scored, and over 112 hits. He is a 1-time ABA Champion, 1-time ABA MVP and 3-time ABA Silver Slugger.

## Professional Career

### American Baseball Association (2000-2016)

#### Philadelphia Freedom (2000-2008)

In the 2000 Inaugural Draft, Roland was drafted in the sixth round by the Philadelphia Freedom. he was regarded as a top prospect with great contact, above average power and a below average eye that would give him trouble at the plate.

Roland had a good rookie season on offense, but heavyly struggled on defense, so much so that he was an overall liability for his team. He continued to be reliability on defense in 2001, but improved on offense, being a slightly above-average hitter. Things took a turn for the better in 2002, where he hit over .300 for the first time in his career. Fans were concerned about Roland's lack of power at the plate, which saw him try a new approach at the plate in 2003 that didn't quite work, but was still seen as an average hitter in the league.

Roland went back to his old ways in 2004 and drastically improved his numbers at the plate, but still failed to improve his power, getting only 18 extra base hits out of 72 hits. Roland was then considered one of the best contact hitter in ABA and proved it to the world in 2005, by hitting a league-leading 87 hits, including 19 doubles, good for a league-leading .382 batting average, winning his first Silver Slugger Award. To prove it wasn't just a fluke, Roland hit led the league in batting average, hits, doubles, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and wins above replacement in 2006, en route to win MVP and his second Silver Slugger Award.

Nobody thought Roland could keep this up and he got overconfident in his abilities at the plate. He took a more aggressive approach at the plate that saw him draw significantly less walks and striking out more often, which didn't really work. He went back to his old approach in 2008 and once again led the league in batting average and hits, winning his third batting title in 4 years.

Frustrated by the Freedom's lack of success, Roland rejected the qualifying offer, hitting the open market the first change he got.

#### New York Bombers (2009-2014)

Roland was a big ticket free agent during the offseason and finally decided to sign a 6-year deal with the New York Bombers. As with every player that signs a big contract in New York, Roland cracked under the pressure, which saw his batting everyage drop by nearly 50 points. Things went back to normal in 2010 however, when he once again led the league in hits, for the fourth time in his career. However, Bombers fans were upset that Roland didn't have any power at the plate, hitting only one homerun in 2010. He changed his approach at the plate to try and be more in-line with other New York players, but it backfired, with Roland only hitting .248, the lowest average of his career for far and he was worse than the average ABA hitter, something that didn't happen for Roland since his rookie season.

Roland embraced his status as a contact hitter and stopped trying to go for home runs in 2012, which ironically saw him hit more home runs than ever before, with a career high of 8 long balls. He once again led the league in batting average, his fourth ABA batting title, en route to winning his third Silver Slugger. Things started to feel his age in 2013 and 2014, with his average dropping below .300 for consecutive seasons for the first time in his career.

With his offensive contribution lowering in recent years and his below-average defense that didn't age well, New York decided not to extend Roland.

#### Dallas Rangers (2015-2016)

Roland took a lengthy break weighing his options before deciding to stick around for a couple of more years in late December in 2014. Since he was still a free agent, he was eligible to be drafted in the Inaugural Draft of the Mexican Baseball Association. He was selected in the 4th round by the Leon Tigers. However, he refused to move to Mexico and the team was forced to release him when he didn't show up to training camp.

He signed a one-year contract with the Dallas Rangers during Spring Training and while his batting average continued to drop compared to his earlier years, he was still a serviceable hitter. His efforts saw him get a two-year extension for the 2016 and 2017 season.

Roland missed the two-thirds of the 2016 season with knee inflammation and an oblique injury, which saw him play starting 18 games. His physical attributes significantly lowered with the injuries and was relegated to a pinch hitter status for the rest of the season. He was let go by Dallas at the end of the season.

### French Baseball Association (2017)

Toulouse Bears (2017)

Roland wasn't the same player he was after the injuries and at 39 years old, he was near the end of his career. Dallas then traded him alongside Steve Cape Jr. for French second baseman Eric Gilles. Despite constant retirement rumors, Roland committed to play with Toulouse in 2017. He appeared in only 15 games before hurting his back and was released by Toulouse after only hitting for .163.

### Return to the American Baseball Association (2017)

#### Detroit Titans (2017)

Despite the failure of his stint in France, Detroit was looking for an outfielder and called Roland, who still didn't abandon hope to play in the ABA, He would conclude the season with the Titans appearing in 8 games and hitting for only .185.

## Retirement

At the conclusion of the 2017, Roland announced his retirement from baseball. At the time of his retirement, Roland held the third all-time batting average in ABA history behind Hall of Famers Craig Betz and Phil Tryan and was the all-time ABA leader in hits with 1104. He annouced that he would represent the Philadelphia Freedom in his Hall of Fame bid, where he won 3 batting titles, a MVP and two Silver Sluggers. Following his retirement, his #25 was retired by the Philadelphia Freedom.

## Awards

1X ABA MVP Award (2012)

3X ABA Silver Slugger Award (2005, 2007, 2012)

2X ABA Champion (2010)