Ben Davis is a local kid who made good – and he’s continuing to make good.

Born in Chester and growing up in Delco, Ben went to high school at Malvern Prep – where he played basketball and baseball. During his senior season, he drew the attention of baseball scouts by batting .514 in 70 at-bats, hitting six home runs, and collecting 37 RBIs. Baseball America ranked him as the second-best prospect in the country prior to the 1995 MLB amateur draft.

The San Diego Padres selected him with the second overall pick in that draft – taken one pick behind Darin Erstad but several picks ahead of Kerry Wood, Todd Helton, Geoff Jenkins, Matt Morris, Mark Redman, and Roy Halladay.

Davis spent six seasons – plus one game in 1998 – in the big leagues:

– 1999 to 2001 with the Padres – plus that one game back in 1998

– 2002 thru the part of 2004 with the Seattle Mariners

– Balance of 2004 with the Chicago White Sox.

On Thursday, Comcast Sports Net announced that Ben Davis will become the third member of the TV broadcast team for this season’s Phillies games. He’ll be one of Tom McCarthy’s wing-men providing color commentary. The other wing-man is Matt Stairs.

Davis replaces Jamie Moyer in the booth. The reason given for Moyer’s departure is the hackneyed line about wanting to spend more time with his family.

Between you and me, the more time I spend with my family makes me realize that I want to spend less time with my family – but that’s just me.

On Saturday morning, I made a trip to the bank and got an opportunity for a rare daytime listen to WIP. It was Glen Macnow co-hosting with Rueben Frank. I’ve been listening to Glen for better than 20 years and – for the umpteenth time – Roob is my all-time favorite sports radio host.

Glen made an editorial comment regarding Jamie Moyer’s work last season. He said that listening to Jamie Moyer was “like eating a bowl of sawdust” – and I agree. Nice guy – good pitcher – bad broadcaster.

Anyway, Glen and Roob were speaking with Ben Davis, and they were discussing Ben’s new gig with the Phillies. From the sound of Ben’s voice, you could almost picture his face aglow. He’s been quoted as saying that the new Phillies job is “a dream come true.”

Ben isn’t a newcomer to broadcasting in Philly. For the past four years he’s been doing Phillies pre-game and post-game shows for Comcast Sports Net, and he’s made semi-regular appearances on WIP. In fact, I was listening to WIP on February 15 – on my way to Sunday breakfast with my favorite son in South Philly – when I was surprised to hear Roob partnering with Ben Davis. Even more surprising to me, Ben was talking football with Roob – and not baseball.

So I tweeted Ben:

Please note my sign-off – “I luv Nick Foles.” I’ve been praising Nick Foles since his rookie season and hoping for a bounce-back this year. But I digress.

Ben Davis strikes me as an honest and forthright man and I wish him all the best in his new endeavor.  One thing’s for sure – listening to Ben Davis won’t be like eating a bowl of sawdust. In addition to knowing football, Ben knows baseball.

Barry Bowe is the author of 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant and Born to Be Wild.