Yermín Mercedes

Yermín Francisco Mercedes (born February 14, 1993), nicknamed "The Yermín-ator",[1] is a Dominican professional baseball first baseman, catcher, and designated hitter who is a free agent. He signed as an international free agent with the Washington Nationals in 2011. He made his MLB debut in 2020 with the Chicago White Sox. On April 3, 2021, he set a major league record as the first player in modern MLB history to begin a season with eight consecutive hits. He was named the MLB Rookie of the Month in April 2021.

Yermín Mercedes
Mercedes with the Washington Nationals in 2012
Free agent
Catcher / First Baseman / Designated hitter
Born: (1993-02-14) February 14, 1993
La Romana, Dominican Republic
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
MLB debut
August 2, 2020, for the Chicago White Sox
MLB statistics
(through 2022 season)
Batting average.261
Home runs8
Runs batted in45
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Career

Early career

At 18 years of age, Mercedes signed as an international free agent with the Washington Nationals on March 3, 2011.[2][3] He spent the 2011, 2012, and 2013 seasons with the DSL Nationals, hitting .302/.352/.396, .327/.412/.398, and .255/359/.349 respectively. On August 24, 2013, Mercedes was released by the Nationals organization.[4]

Mercedes with the Washington Nationals organization in 2012

Mercedes spent the 2014 season in independent baseball. He played for the Douglas Diablos and the White Sands Pupfish of the Pecos League, and for the San Angelo Colts of the United League Baseball.[4] In 2014 between the three teams he batted .385/.424/.701 with 17 home runs and 75 RBIs in 234 at bats.[5]

On September 8, 2014, Mercedes signed a minor league contract with the Baltimore Orioles organization.[4] He spent the 2015 season with the Class A Delmarva Shorebirds, hitting .272/.302/.456 with eight home runs and 42 RBIs in 239 at bats.[5]

He split the 2016 season between Delmarva (with whom he was an SAL mid-season All Star and post-season All Star, and Baseball America Low Class A All Star) and the Class A+ Frederick Keys, hitting a combined .345/.404/.570 with 20 home runs, 78 runs, and 77 RBIs in 447 at bats.[6] Mercedes split the 2017 season between Frederick and the Class AA Bowie Baysox, hitting a combined .276/.340/.455 with 16 home runs and 62 RBIs in 380 at bats.[4][7]

2017–20; MLB debut

The Chicago White Sox selected Mercedes in the minor league portion of the December 2017 Rule 5 draft.[7][8] He spent the 2018 season with the Class A+ Winston-Salem Dash, hitting .289/.362/.478 with 14 home runs (7th in the Carolina League) and 64 RBIs (7th) in 360 at bats, playing 79 games at catcher and 14 games at first base.[9] He caught 41% of attempted basestealers.[5]

Mercedes split the 2019 season between the Class AA Birmingham Barons and the Class AAA Charlotte Knights, combining to hit .317/.388/.581 with 23 home runs and 80 RBIs in 334 at bats, playing 58 games at catcher, four games at first base, and two games at third base.[10] He caught 44% of attempted basestealers.[5] The White Sox added Mercedes to their 40-man roster following the 2019 season.[11] Playing for Licey in the Dominican Winter League he hit .341/.375/.477 in 44 at bats, playing catcher, first base, and left field.[5]

On August 1, 2020, Mercedes was called up to the major leagues.[12] He made his MLB debut the following day as a pinch hitter, grounding out in his only plate appearance for the season.

2021; AL Rookie of the Month

Mercedes recorded the first hit of his major league career on April 2, 2021, when he hit a single against the Los Angeles Angels. In the same game, he became the first player in Chicago White Sox history to record five hits in their first major league start. The following day, Mercedes had hits in his first three at bats, including his first Major League home run off of Alex Cobb, becoming the first player since at least 1900 to begin a season with eight straight hits.[13] On April 5, Mercedes was named the American League Player of the Week after batting 9-for-14 with a .643 batting average, 1.643 OPS, and six RBIs.[14]

On April 8, Mercedes hit his first home run at Guaranteed Rate Field off of Brad Keller of the Kansas City Royals. His home run was measured at 485 feet; it was the third-longest home run in major league baseball in 2021, and the longest regular-season home run for the White Sox in the Statcast era (since 2015).[15][16] On April 19, Mercedes made his first pitching appearance during a game against the Red Sox. Mercedes was named the American League Rookie of the Month for the games played in April, in which he batted .415/.455/.659 with five home runs and 16 RBIs in 88 plate appearances.[17][18][19]

On May 17, in a game against the Minnesota Twins, Mercedes hit a home run to center field on a 3–0 count with an 11-run lead while Willians Astudillo, a position player who had retired the first two batters in the inning, was pitching; in 4 innings Astudillo pitched that season, it was the only hit that he gave up.[20][21][22] White Sox manager, 76-year-old Tony La Russa who had just come out of a 10-year retirement, publicly criticized rookie Mercedes in a 15-minute discussion with the press for violating the unwritten rules of baseball, calling him "clueless," and didn't have a problem when the Twins later threw behind Mercedes in apparent retaliation.[23][21][18][24] In contrast, teammates of Mercedes, as well as opponents including pitcher Alex Wood, supported him.[21][18]

After that game, Mercedes' batting average dropped from a league-leading .364 to .271 by the end of June.[25][26] He was demoted back to the Triple-A Charlotte Knights on July 2.[27] On July 21, Mercedes announced via his Instagram account that he would be taking an indefinite leave from professional baseball, but the following day Mercedes returned to Charlotte.[28][29]

In 2021 with the White Sox, Mercedes batted .271/.328/.404 with seven home runs and 37 RBIs in 240 at bats, playing 61 games at DH, two at catcher, and one each at first base and pitcher.[18] The maximum exit velocity of balls he hit was in the top 2% in the major leagues, at 116.8 mph.[30] With Charlotte he batted .275/.318/.464 with 11 home runs, 32 runs, and 29 RBIs in 222 at bats, splitting time in the field between first base and catcher with an inning at third base.[18]

2022

During spring training in 2022, Mercedes was diagnosed with a fracture in the hamate bone in his left hand, requiring surgery in late March.[31] He returned to Charlotte in May, where he hit .230/.376/.425 with 4 home runs, 14 runs, and 13 RBIs in 87 at bats over 25 games, playing 16 games at DH and 9 games at first base. Mercedes was designated for assignment on June 12, 2022.[32]

San Francisco Giants

The San Francisco Giants claimed Mercedes off of waivers on June 18, 2022.[33] They promoted him to the major leagues on June 26.[34] In 31 games for the Giants, Mercedes batted .233/.325/.342 with one home run and 8 RBI. On September 9, Mercedes was removed from the 40-man roster and sent outright to the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats following the promotion of Austin Dean.[35] On October 14, Mercedes was released by the Giants.[36]

Acereros de Monclova

On April 12, 2023, Mercedes signed with the Acereros de Monclova of the Mexican League.[37] In 20 games, he batted .236/.345/.389 with 2 home runs and 8 RBIs. Mercedes was released by the team on May 15.[6]

See also

References
  1. "Now on the mound ... Yermín Mercedes?". MLB.com. April 19, 2021. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  2. Colclasure, Eric (August 23, 2019). "Under the Radar: Yermín Mercedes". InsideTheWhite Sox on Sports Illustrated: News, Analysis, and More.
  3. JJ Cooper (November 21, 2019). "Yermin Mercedes Is The Feel-Good Story Of The 40-Man Roster Deadline". Baseball America. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  4. "Under the Radar: Yermin Mercedes". South Side Sox. SB Nation. August 13, 2018. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  5. "Yermin Mercedes Minor, Winter & Independent Leagues Statistics & History". Baseball-Reference.com.
  6. "Yermín Mercedes Stats, Fantasy & News". MiLB.com.
  7. James Fegan (December 21, 2017). "Yermin Mercedes has bat flips, but does he add real catching depth to the White Sox organization?". The Athletic. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  8. "Yermín Mercedes and Jonathan Stiever named August/September White Sox Minor League Players of the Month". MLB.com. September 4, 2019. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  9. "2018 Carolina League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com.
  10. Vinnie Duber (November 20, 2019). "White Sox move seven prospects to 40-man roster, protecting them from Rule 5 draft". NBC Sports Chicago. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  11. Daryl Van Schouwen (November 20, 2019). "Right-handers Zack Burdi, Dane Dunning among 7 added to White Sox 40-man roster". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
  12. "White Sox's Yermin Mercedes: Called up by White Sox". CBSSports.com. August 1, 2020. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
  13. "White Sox rookie Yermin Mercedes starts season 8-for-8 to set MLB mark". USAToday.com. April 4, 2021. Retrieved April 4, 2021.
  14. Harrigan, Thomas (April 5, 2021). "Mercedes, Hosmer named Players of Week". MLB.com. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  15. "Yermín Mercedes. 485 feet. Just watch this". MLB.com.
  16. "Here are the longest home runs of '21 season". MLB.com.
  17. Schouwen, Daryl Van (May 3, 2021). "White Sox DH Yermin Mercedes named AL Rookie of the Month". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  18. Selbe, Nick (July 21, 2021). "White Sox DH Mercedes Steps Away From Baseball: 'It's Over'". Sports Illustrated.
  19. "SF Giants add former Rookie of the Month in waiver claim". Around the Foghorn. June 19, 2022.
  20. "Willians Astudillo Minor & Winter Leagues Statistics & History". Baseball-Reference.com.
  21. Apstein, Stephanie (May 19, 2021). "Tony La Russa, MLB's Keeper of the Unwritten Rulebook". Sports Illustrated.
  22. "Yermin Mercedes Hits BOMB Home Run on 3-0 Pitch | Manager La Russa Upset | Tim Anderson Supports" – via www.youtube.com.
  23. Wagner, James (May 21, 2021). "Teammates and Opponents Support Him. His Manager? Not So Much". The New York Times.
  24. "Tony La Russa blasts Yermin Mercedes for homering on 3–0 count with 11-run lead". The Washington Post. May 19, 2021. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  25. Qualls, Kyle (June 9, 2022). "So when is it Tony La Russa's turn?". Deadspin.
  26. Staff, The Athletic. "Yermín Mercedes returns one day after saying he's stepping away from baseball". The Athletic.
  27. Pope, LaMond (July 2, 2021). "Jake Burger is called up and makes his major-league debut for the Chicago White Sox, who also option Yermín Mercedes to Triple-A Charlotte". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  28. "ChiSox's Mercedes 'stepping aside' from baseball". ESPN.com. July 22, 2021. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  29. "Apologetic Yermin Mercedes in uniform for White Sox' Triple-A team". Chicago Sun-Times.
  30. "Yermín Mercedes Statcast, Visuals & Advanced Metrics | MLB.com". baseballsavant.com.
  31. "White Sox Yermin Mercedes out 6–8 weeks with hand injury". March 26, 2022.
  32. "White Sox Roster & Staff – Transactions". MLB.com. June 2022. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  33. Webeck, Evan (May 21, 2021). "SF Giants pick up former rookie sensation from Chicago White Sox". Mercurynews.com. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  34. "Crawford makes rare IL trip, Giants call up Mercedes". June 26, 2022.
  35. "SF Giants designate Yermín Mercedes for assignment, outright him to Triple-A". si.com. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  36. "SF Giants release former White Sox slugger Yermín Mercedes". si.com. October 18, 2022. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  37. @AcererosOficial (April 12, 2023). "¡𝗬𝗘𝗥𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗧𝗢𝗥 LLEGA A LA CAPITAL DEL ACERO! 🦾 Activo en Grandes Ligas hasta el año pasado, sumamos poder a nuestro lineup con el arribo de YERMÍN MERCEDES. 🔥 Entérate de los detalles en 👀: 50 años de #AceroInolvidable. 🔥💙" (Tweet) (in Spanish). Retrieved April 12, 2023 – via Twitter.
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