Matt Mervis tries to keep away from taking a look at his numbers. No one would blame him, although, if he needs to take a peek.
Mervis’ meteoric rise by way of the Chicago Cubs farm system this 12 months has the left-handed slugger on the cusp of Major League Baseball.
Mervis, 24, hit his approach to Triple-A Iowa after starting the 12 months at High-A South Bend.
In 106 video games throughout three ranges, Mervis is hitting .303 whereas producing a .362 on-base share and .939 OPS. Mervis’ 60 extra-base hits — 34 doubles, two triples and 24 dwelling runs — are third-most in minor-league baseball.
“I couldn’t imagine this all happening in one year, but honestly this is what I expected over my minor-league career,” Mervis just lately instructed the Tribune. “It’s positively been a unique path, however I believe I’ve settled in fairly nicely at each stage as a result of that is the place I’ve at all times seen myself and past.
“I‘m pretty tough on myself — nothing’s ever good enough — but I’m definitely happy with how the season’s going.”
Mervis’ path to the group required the Cubs’ finest recruiting efforts.
In their 2020 predraft conferences, the Cubs graded Mervis as a fourth-to-sixth-round choose in a traditional draft 12 months. The pandemic decreased the draft from 40 rounds to only 5, inflicting a whole lot of proficient gamers to go undrafted. The Cubs anticipated all 30 groups would pursue signing Mervis to an undrafted free-agent contract if he wasn’t chosen by the tip of the fifth spherical.
Mervis continuously talked to Justin Stone, the Cubs’ director of hitting, main as much as the draft. Stone reached out to Mervis early on the morning of the primary day groups may contact undrafted gamers and outlined a complete growth plan particularly tailor-made to him. Stone and the Cubs recognized “low-hanging fruit” to work on Mervis’ swing. The Cubs’ latest historical past of growing homegrown hitters additionally appealed to Mervis, who felt assured the Cubs had been the fitting match.
Stone distinctly remembers how the Cubs approached their free-agent pitch to Mervis.
“If this were an SEC school and we had to recruit a blue-chip prospect, how do we go about doing it?” Stone instructed the Tribune. “We took some of those college recruiting steps, and one was being extremely thorough. If he was a player for us right now, what would his player plan look like?”
When evaluating Mervis’ time at Duke, that includes restricted at-bats as a two-way participant, the Cubs noticed his bat generally may get very rotational: the barrel would enter and exit the zone to the pull aspect faster than it ought to, which facilities on a participant’s deceleration functionality. Addressing that facet of his swing has been part of Mervis’ growth plan since becoming a member of the group.
Said Stone: “This means being able to not only turn really fast to create high at speed and exit at velocity, but being able to put on the brakes really fast and keep the bat going forward in the zone versus off to the side.”
Stone in contrast Mervis’ hitter profile to Anthony Rizzo — comparable exit velocities, skill to make contact and choice maker with some pop.
“There was a lot of intriguing things of we have a power bat on the corner that could potentially move to the system fairly quickly,” Stone stated. “And you’re talking about an asset there in the UDFA process that in a normal draft year would have been worth a lot more financially.”
Mervis’ debut season in 2021 didn’t meet his expectations at Low-A Myrtle Beach. Mervis, rated the Cubs’ No. 20 prospect by Baseball America and No. 21 by MLB.com, didn’t need to put any expectations on himself getting into this season.
A big a part of his 2022 success stems from placing the ball in play. At Triple-A Iowa, Mervis is putting out at a 13.8% fee. If he had sufficient Triple A plate appearances to qualify, Mervis’ whiff fee could be among the many lowest. But even with the smaller pattern dimension at Iowa (109 plate appearances), Mervis’ low Ok% places him within the high 10% amongst hitters at Triple-A associates.
“Oh, I hate striking out,” Mervis stated. “Nothing makes me more angry than striking out. I feel I have pretty good bat control, a pretty good feel for the barrel and pairing that with when I get two strikes to not letting a pitcher strike me out. I feel like a lot of that is physical, but some of it is mental.”
Some small swing adjustments have helped Mervis bounce again from 2021, which Stone considers an anomaly. Mervis centered on staying shorter to the ball by protecting extra compact and balanced in his swing as an alternative of attempting to at all times hit for energy. Mervis beforehand had not adopted an all-power method in highschool or at Duke, as an alternative taking delight in being a hitter first and letting the ability come naturally.
But the dynamic that led the Cubs to signing him in 2020 grew to become out of whack at Myrtle Beach.
“I spent so much time during the season thinking about mechanics and if something didn’t work one at-bat or one game then I tried to figure something out the next game and it just kind of handcuffed me over the whole season,” Mervis stated. “This year I’m allowing myself to trust my mechanics I’ve worked on before the game and then really trying to see the ball and react.”
Mervis didn’t produce outlandish energy numbers at Duke, however extra constant contact has yielded extra balls in play this season.
“He’s one of those really good stories in the minors and it’s fun to see him keep hitting,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer stated final month. “Hopefully he keeps hitting all the way up here.”
Keeping it easy when moving into the batter’s field is a phrase typically heard in baseball, and Mervis embodies this method: “I don’t have one. Try to get a pitch over the plate that I can hit and I try to hit it hard.”
Mervis’ changes had been rapidly examined his first three weeks at High-A South Bend, the place he opened the season. He struggled, hitting .250 with a .277 on-base share, 10 strikeouts and two walks by way of 12 video games.
But he dedicated to trusting his method and saved the mechanical points of his swing out of his thoughts. Once the climate began to heat up and his swing started feeling higher throughout pregame work, Mervis’ manufacturing took off.
“He’s swinging at really good pitches to hit and he’s not missing,” vice chairman of participant growth Jared Banner instructed the Tribune. “You don’t find guys hitting for power like that without striking out, so we’re really excited about that. And he’s a competitor, that’s the thing that jumps out. He wants to learn, he wants to get better and he’s always working.”
Mervis initially stood out throughout the Cubs’ abbreviated educational league within the 2020 offseason, prompting Stone to name him arguably their finest hitter among the many group.
“So we had a snapshot of like, ‘Oh man, this is different, this guy has a chance,’ and the Myrtle Beach year wasn’t really who that was,” Stone stated. “For him to come back out and do what he did this 12 months, that’s sort of what we noticed within the draft 12 months and instructs, that is what he did frequently.
“I’m just super happy for him that he righted the ship and started to surface as the player that we thought potentially he could be.”
Mervis’ confidence stood out to the Cubs even throughout the UDFA course of. The participant growth course of helps help gamers by way of the psychological and bodily components of the sport, and the Cubs know what containers they should assist Mervis verify for him to achieve his big-league objectives.
“The fact that he’s arguably one of the top five hitters in all of minor-league baseball, that’s super exciting for him,” Stone stated. “He’s going to be in a conversation at the end of the year when you are talking about what this guy’s future is going to be with us. And that’s a different conversation than what it was a year ago.”
The Cubs probably will wait till 2023 to present Mervis a big-league alternative. He profiles as a primary baseman/designated hitter and isn’t eligible for the Rule 5 draft within the offseason, that means the group can wait somewhat longer to place him on the 40-man roster.
But Mervis seems prepared for the following problem.
“I hope there’s one more level in my future this year,” he stated.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com