Whit Merrifield

Whitley David Merrifield (born January 24, 1989) is an American professional baseball second baseman and outfielder for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Kansas City Royals. He is a three-time All-Star and has led the American League in stolen bases three times.

Whit Merrifield
Merrifield with the Kansas City Royals in 2016
Toronto Blue Jays – No. 15
Second baseman / Outfielder
Born: (1989-01-24) January 24, 1989
Florence, South Carolina, U.S.
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
MLB debut
May 18, 2016, for the Kansas City Royals
MLB statistics
(through 2023 season)
Batting average.284
Hits1,184
Home runs90
Runs batted in470
Stolen bases201
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Amateur career

Merrifield graduated from Davie County High School in Mocksville, North Carolina. He enrolled at the University of South Carolina and played college baseball for the South Carolina Gamecocks from 2008 to 2010. In 2008, he played collegiate summer baseball for the Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod Baseball League, and in 2009 returned to the league to play with the Chatham Anglers.[1][2][3] In the second game of the championship series at the 2010 College World Series, Merrifield hit a game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the 11th inning to give South Carolina the championship.[4][5] In his three years at South Carolina, he played in 195 games and hit .329/.389/.489 with 27 home runs.

Professional career

Kansas City Royals

Merrifield was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the ninth round of the 2010 Major League Baseball draft.[6] He signed with the Royals and made his professional debut that season with the Burlington Bees.[7][8] In 47 games he hit .253/.317/.409 with five home runs and 26 RBIs. In 2011, Merrifield played for the Wilmington Blue Rocks where he batted .262 with five home runs and 36 RBIS. In 2012, with both Wilmington and the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, he compiled a .258 batting average with nine home runs and 44 RBIs in 125 games between both teams. He spent 2013 with Northwest Arkansas where he batted .270/.319/.391 with three home runs and 43 RBIs in 94 games.[9]

Merrifield batting for the Omaha Storm Chasers in 2015

Merrifield returned to Northwest Arkansas to start 2014 and was promoted to the Omaha Storm Chasers during the season.[10] In 120 games between the two clubs, he slashed .319/.371/.470 with eight home runs and 49 RBIs. In 2015, Merrifield played for Omaha where he posted a .265 batting average with five home runs and 38 RBIs in 135 games.[9] He returned to Omaha to start the 2016 season.

Merrifield made his major league debut with the Kansas City Royals on May 18, 2016, instantly batting in the top third of the lineup and soon taking the starting second baseman job from Omar Infante.[11] His first Major League hit came off of David Price.[12]

On June 13, 2016, Whit hit both his first major league triple and home run against the Cleveland Indians. In early July 2016, a song and video tribute to Merrifield titled "Cool Whit" received coverage on local Kansas City radio and TV news.[13] He was optioned back to Omaha in July and recalled in September. In 69 games for Omaha he batted .266 with eight home runs and 29 RBIs, and in 81 games for Kansas City he compiled a .283 batting average with two home runs, 29 RBIs, and 22 doubles.[14]

Merrifield began the 2017 season with Omaha, but was recalled in April after nine games and spent the remainder of the season with Kansas City. With the Royals, he hit .288 in 145 games with 19 home runs and 78 RBIs. He also led the American League with 34 stolen bases, the fewest total for a league leader since Luis Aparicio led the AL with 31 in 1962.[15]

In 2018, Merrifield hit .304/.367/.438 and led the majors in hits (192) and stolen bases (45).[16]

In 2019, he batted .302/.348/.463 and led the major leagues in games (162), at bats (681), singles (139), triples (10), and line drive percentage (28.2%), while stealing 20 bases and leading the majors in caught stealing (10).[17][18]

Overall with the 2020 Kansas City Royals, Merrifield batted .282 with nine home runs and 30 RBIs in 60 games.[19]

In 2021, Merrifield hit .277/.317/.395 with 10 home runs and 74 RBIs. He tied for the MLB lead with 42 doubles, and led the American League with 40 steals. He also tied for the major league lead in sacrifice flies, with 12.[20] On defense, he led all major league second basemen with 283 putouts, 103 double plays and a 4.77 range factor. He won a Fielding Bible Award for his defensive excellence.[21] Merrifield played in a franchise-record 553 consecutive games for the Royals between June 2018 and July 2022.[22]

Toronto Blue Jays

On August 2, 2022, Merrifield was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for Max Castillo and Samad Taylor.[23] He was among ten Royals players who were in violation of Canada's COVID-19 vaccination requirement and unable to travel to Toronto for a four-game weekend series right before the All-Star break two weeks earlier in July.[24] On August 4, 2022, Merrifield announced that he was now vaccinated and would be able to play in the team's first game in Toronto since being acquired.[25]

In 2022 he batted .250/.298/.375 in 550 plate appearances, and was the only qualified batter in the major leagues who was not hit by a pitch all year.[26]

International career

On September 10, 2018, he was selected by the MLB All-Stars at 2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series.[27]

Personal life

Merrifield is a Christian.[28] Merrifield married his wife Jordan Michael on December 28, 2019.[29]

Merrifield's father, Bill, played college baseball for Wake Forest University,[30] and spent six seasons in Minor League Baseball, primarily as a third baseman.[31] In September 1987, Bill Merrifield was briefly on the active roster of the Pittsburgh Pirates, but was sent to the Florida Instructional League without making an MLB appearance,[32] rendering him a "phantom ballplayer".[33][34]

See also

References
  1. "2008 Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox". thebaseballcube.com. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  2. NICOLE AUERBACH (June 16, 2009). "Cape League: Turning tables on Y-D". capecodtimes.com. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  3. "2009 Chatham As". thebaseballcube.com. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  4. "Merrifield, former CWS hero, is back in Omaha". Winston-Salem Journal. June 20, 2014. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
  5. "Four years after delivering a CWS title to South Carolina, Merrifield's a hit with Chasers". Omaha.com. June 20, 2014. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
  6. "Whit Merrifield Selected By Kansas City Royals In Ninth Round Of 2010 MLB Draft". gamecocksonline.com. June 8, 2010. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  7. Joseph Person (July 9, 2010). "Merrifield signs with Kansas City". heraldonline.com. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  8. Brad Senkiw (July 8, 2010). "Merrifield ready to start new chapter". AIM. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  9. "Whit Merrifield Minor League Statistics & History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  10. Tony Boone (August 11, 2014). "Merrifield's focus keeps him 'locked in'". Omaha.com. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
  11. "Kansas City Royals call up Whit Merrifield from minors". thestate.com. May 18, 2016. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  12. Jeffrey Flanagan (May 18, 2016). "Merrifield notches hit in major league debut". mlb.com. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  13. "Fan Creates Ode to Royals Rookie Cool Whit Merrifield". kctv.com. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  14. "Whit Merrifield Stats, Highlights, Bio - MiLB.com Stats - The Official Site of Minor League Baseball". MiLB.com. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
  15. Rieper, Max (October 1, 2017). "Congrats to Whit Merrifield, your AL stolen base champ!". Royals Review.
  16. "2018 Major League Baseball Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com.
  17. "Whit Merrifield Stats". Baseball-Reference.com.
  18. "Major League Leaderboards » 2019 » Batters » Batted Ball Statistics | FanGraphs Baseball". www.fangraphs.com.
  19. "Whit Merrifield Stats, Fantasy & News". MLB.com.
  20. "Major League Leaderboards » 2021 » Batters » Standard Statistics | FanGraphs Baseball". www.fangraphs.com.
  21. "Merrifield, Taylor are 2021 Fielding Bible Award winners". Hutch Post. October 28, 2021. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
  22. "Whit Merrifield's Kansas City Royals-record consecutive games-played streak ends at 553". ESPN.com. July 11, 2022. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
  23. "Kansas City Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield traded to Toronto Blue Jays". ESPN.com. August 2, 2022.
  24. "Andrew Benintendi, Whit Merrifield among 10 unvaccinated Kansas City Royals players out for Toronto Blue Jays series". Washington Post. July 14, 2022.
  25. "Blue Jays new acquisition Whit Merrifield says he is vaccinated". Sportsnet. August 4, 2022. Archived from the original on August 10, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2022.
  26. "Major League Leaderboards » 2022 » Batters » Standard Statistics | FanGraphs Baseball". www.fangraphs.com.
  27. "Eight Players Selected for Japan All-Star Series". The Official Site of Major League Baseball Players Association. September 10, 2018. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
  28. Merrifield, Whit; Hager, Tom. "Paying My Dues". Athletes For God.
  29. "Whit Merrifield of the Kansas City Royals poses for a photo with his..." Getty Images.
  30. Spivey, Jay (July 14, 2015). "Despite not getting called up, Merrifield trusts 'perfect timing'". Winston-Salem Journal.
  31. "Bill Merrifield Minor League Statistics & History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
  32. "Merrifield assigned to instructional camp". Rocky Mount Telegram. Rocky Mount, North Carolina. September 12, 1987. p. 9. Retrieved June 1, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
  33. Dodd, Rustin (June 4, 2016). "Royals' Whit Merrifield is taking his family along on big-league journey". Kansas City Star. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  34. Perrotto, John (September 1, 2017). "Rumors and Rumblings – Merrifield fulfills father's dream". Fanrag. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
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