A Natural Hitter, Mercedes had to learn to hustle

[caulfield12]

Mercedes isn't a 35 homer guy.   I'd expect 18-24, realistically.   He has huge power, obviously, but his swing and approach (currently) aren't conducive to putting up those Eloy Jimenez type numbers.   Granted, very few players can be expected to do that consistently.

[tray]

15 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

Mercedes isn't a 35 homer guy.   I'd expect 18-24, realistically.   He has huge power, obviously, but his swing and approach (currently) aren't conducive to putting up those Eloy Jimenez type numbers.   Granted, very few players can be expected to do that consistently.

 I would think your estimate of 18-24 dingers would be a pretty good tally ...something like Pablo Sandoval numbers.

Some might argue that 25 HR is  a minimum requirement for a full-time DH but if he hits .300, that will be more than sufficient to fill that role.

Mercedes finished 0-for-4  with 10 left on base yesterday.  That is the opposite of what the teams needs right now. We need RBIs from the middle of the order.

 

Edited May 27, 2021 by tray

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

On 5/26/2021 at 7:39 AM, ChiSox59 said:

Yermin's last 28 days: .263/.317/.388 for a .706 OPS.  

The dude can hit, and is fun AF to watch. But this probably much more realistic of the Yermin we see moving forward.  

I watch him very closely. The league has adjusted to him. He's not seeing many good pitches at all. It's a lot of sliders off the plate then they bust him inside to see if he can get his bat around , curves down. The problem is he's not taking many pitches and has been behind a lot. If he continues to swing at junk that's all he will keep getting. He needs to trust his batting eye more and take some walks and let the pitchers come to him. He has one thing in common with Madrigal. They don't like to K. Both swing at a lot of crap. They need to learn it's ok to get aced on the corner and and get called out on strikes .

Mercedes especially because he has power is allowing himself to become a singles hitter.I've hardly seen anything over the fat part of the plate to him in May. Despite all that he hasn't looked terrible. He just hasn't looked as good. His timing seems off. Fouls off a lot of pitches that he could be driving. It's a slump . Much of it is his doing . He has to make the adjustment back. That's the phase he's in now. Make the pitchers pitch you in the zone, take your walks, trust your eyes. He's shown he can take walks in the minors and earlier this season. He seems like Abreu because he wants to prove he can be a big time contributor  he thinks he  always has to be in hit mode. His numbers will come back around . When all is said and done maybe we see a .300, .365 , .475 guy , maybe better if he makes his adjustment stick.