St. Petersburg, Fla. — Head athletic trainer Richie Bancells, who has been a staple in the Orioles organization for more than four decades and is one of the team’s longest-tenured employees, told the club Sunday that this season — his 30th in his current role — will be his last.

Bancells told manager Buck Showalter before the Orioles’ season finale against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday about his decision to retire.

“There’s not much more pertinent news than that from me today,” Showalter said. “A guy that has been such a fixture for us for so many years and made so many contributions for us. So many that people didn’t see, evaluations. Let’s face it, he was the trainer for Cal Ripken. The conversation starts and stops there for me.

“Seeing players come back and what Richie meant to them, the pureness of heart and how much he loves the Orioles. … It’s a loss for us. It’s like losing a really good player. It’s a loss for us. …”

Bancells, 61, has been in the Orioles organization for 41 years — his first job was as an assistant trainer with the Single-A Miami Orioles in 1977. He became the Orioles’ major league assistant trainer in 1984 under Ralph Salvon and became the head athletic trainer in 1988. He is just the third head athletic trainer in the team’s 64-year history.

“There were just a lot of great moments, whether it was postseason stuff,” Bancells said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to work with so many good, good players, some of them in the Hall [of Fame]. It’s just hard to pinpoint one or two things after all these years, but it’s just been a great time.

Ripken credited Bancells for getting him through his record consecutive-games-played streak, thanking him during his acceptance speed in Cooperstown in 2007.

“He’s one of the most respected trainers in the business,” Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette said. “I’m sure he has some great war stories, but I want to thank him on behalf of the Orioles for his great work.

“There are a lot of players he’s helped over the years to be healthy and have great careers. He did it very professionally. He’s a great role model for young trainer coming into the big leagues and he grew as a professional over the course of his career. The Orioles owe a debt of thanks to Richie and we wish him all the best of luck.”

Over several generations, Bancells’ face was a recognizable face among Orioles fans as he would accompany the team’s manager to the field to attend to any injury concern.

“It makes you feel good,” Bancells said. “It does. It makes you know that they’re really true fans if they know who I am. And I actually have had the opportunity to help them. At times, they’ve asked me for advice and I’ve helped them with things and I’ve always enjoyed doing that. It touches you. It really does touch you.”

Bancells said he decided to retire to be able to spend more time with his wife of 39 years, Carol, his three children and seven young grandchildren.

“This has become pretty much a 24/7 year-round job,” Bancells said. “And that’s the thing, it’s realizing that you’re being dragged a little bit further from your family. And as I said, all of our kids are grown and they have spouses and I have seven beautiful grandchildren. I’m really anxious to spend time with them and do things and go places with my wife Carol that I haven’t had the chance to do.”

Davis vows improvement in 2018: Orioles first baseman Chris Davis called the traveling members of the team’s beat corps together before Sunday’s series finale to address his frustrating 2017 season, shouldering a significant burden for the club’s struggles this year while promising an offseason focused on getting his swing back on track.

Davis, who is finishing the second season of a club-record seven-year, $161 million deal, entered Sunday’s game with just 26 homers and a .737 OPS, both totals his lowest since 2014. In reflecting on the season, he said he felt that there were many nights when he felt he didn’t contribute enough during the Orioles’ first losing season since 2011.

“It’s been extremely frustrating for a number of reasons, but one of the main reasons being that I just feel like there were so many nights out there when I was just a name in the lineup,” Davis said. “I didn’t feel like I had contributed. Maybe defensively, but definitely not with my bat. And I look at the numbers now and the year as a whole and I feel like I’m a better player than that and I feel like these guys deserve a better product than what I’ve been giving them.”

Davis’ 37.9 percent strikeout rate entering Sunday was the highest of his career, and 38.5 percent of his strikeouts this season (75 of 195) came by a called third strike, which was frustrating for Davis, who said he is eager to go into the offseason dedicating himself to correcting some mechanical problems in his swing, including limiting his head movement, something that’s hurt him in the past.

“That bothers me,” Davis said of the called strikeouts. “And anybody who’s watched me play at all over the past few years knows I’m an aggressive hitter. I like to swing the bat. I think that’s obvious. So that in itself was inexcusable and it’s extremely frustrating. But I think there are definitely mechanical things that I can do to give myself a better chance and ultimately at the end of the day that’s all you can do.”

Davis acknowledged that there were times this season he might have been pressing at the plate to justify his contract, including just before he went on the disabled list with an oblique strain that forced him to missed 26 games before the All-Star break.

Like center fielder Adam Jones, Davis said he hopes to have an offseason meeting with managing partner Peter G. Angelos to discuss the team’s future.

Will Showalter’s staff remain intact? Showalter said he hopes the team will retain his entire coaching staff next year. Duquette said that might not be the case.

“Well, all those things with the coaches and the staffing, all those things need to be addressed,” Duquette said when asked about Showalter’s staff. “And I think you have to look carefully at them when you don’t have a strong year and see if there are some adjustments that you can make. And we’ll do that over the offseason.”

Most of the club’s eight-man coaching staff were holdovers from last season — the exceptions being pitching coach Roger McDowell, bullpen coach Alan Mills and assistant hitting coach Howie Clark.

“I hope not,” Showalter said when asked whether there will be any changes. “We’ll see. I don’t like this time of year that, these guys four weeks from now don’t have contracts. They have families, kids, whatever. Whatever someone has in mind or we have in mind, I want it to come to fruition quickly. I wish it was already done.”

In recent years, the organization has been slow to renew the staff’s contracts.

Around the horn: Davis, who was not initially in Sunday’s starting lineup, was added before game time because he wanted to play in the season’s final game, Showalter said. … Trey Mancini’s fifth-inning single was his 159th hit of the season, enabling him to pass Ripken (1982) for second most by an Orioles rookie. Eddie Murray (1977) has the club record with 173.

eencina@baltsun.com

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