Matt Davidson's knack for long ball qualifies him as keeper for White Sox

Before White Sox slugger Matt Davidson was making team history with four home runs in his first five games, he nearly made a drastic decision.

This was 2015, just after Davidson struggled through his second straight season at Triple-A Charlotte. Striking out 355 times in 1,006 minor-league at-bats can try a man’s patience.

“I almost hung it up,’’ Davidson recalled Thursday before the Sox’s 9-7 10-inning loss to the Tigers in the home opener at Guaranteed Rate Field. “Those were tough times. I tried everything.’’

Davidson’s bewilderment brought him back home to Yucaipa, Calif., a blue-collar community of 52,000 at the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains where baseball came easiest. In…