Bad Then, Good Now

Yermin Mercedes pinch-hit an RBI single in yesterday’s 4-2 White Sox win over the Twins. What a difference a year makes. Last season, the Sox spent $12 million on Edwin Encarnacion to handle the DH chores. Encarnacion responded with absolutely dreadful numbers: .157 BA in 159 at-bats over 44 games; 10 homeruns; 19 RBIs; and 54 strikeouts. The Sox took a pass on picking up Encarncion’s $12 million option for what promised to be more of the same. Now consider his replacement, earning a basement-bargain $570,000. Mercedes is hitting .382 in 110 at-bats over 31 games, with 5 homers; 22 RBIs; and 18 strikeouts. To say the difference verges on night and day is to mix absolute truth with cliche. Mercedes could still flame-out next week or next month or hold off on crashing until next year. But so far he’s been a godsend in the wake of injuries to Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert. His at-bat in the eighth inning yesterday was textbook Yermin, taking an inside 1-2 pitch and lining it to center field. He didn’t do this as the DH, but who cares? Despite having prodigious power, the 5”11” Mercedes doesn’t go looking for the long ball, at least not all the time. Of his 42 hits, 12 have been for extra bases, the rest singles. Throw in eight walks, and we’re talking a true offensive threat where there used to be someone who was just offensive, statistically speaking. The player who comes out of nowhere, be it Roy Hobbs or Joe Hardy or Yermin Mercedes, helps make baseball fun, or as fun as a game taking 3:31 can be. Really, a tip of the cap to Rick Hahn and the rest of the organization on this one, and you know how hard it is for me to say that.