Feature photo of Matt Mervis by Rich Biesterfeld
The Cubs front office must read our tweets because Matt Mervis has been promoted to Chicago, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN.
The big first baseman will likely make his MLB debut on Friday afternoon at beautiful and historic Wrigley Field. Typically, we like to provide plenty of detail on a player here at NSB once he is promoted from one level to another. But with Mervis, this is a unique situation where we would be preaching to the choir.
You all know the story with Mervis. He went undrafted in the strange 2020 five-round draft and after a year in which he struggled while in Low-A Myrtle Beach in 2021, he has done nothing but hit at every single stop.
A friendly reminder of his numbers at each stop in the last year-plus:
High-A South Bend (2022): .350/.389/.650, 24.1% K, 4.6% BB, 121 BASH
Double-A Tennessee: (2022): .300/.370/.596, 20% K, 8.7% BB, 121 BASH
Triple-A Iowa (2022): .297/.383/.593, 14.6% K, 10.6% BB, 127 BASH
Triple-A Iowa (2023): .295/.402/.560, 17% K, 16.1% BB, 119 BASH
Will he be the savior of this struggling Chicago Cubs lineup? Absolutely not. Fans should view the debut of Mervis as something that brings excitement to this team, not an expectation of the same stats we’ve seen from him in the minors leagues. But does he raise the ceiling of a lineup filled with players that are considered high-floor type bats? You bet your bottom dollar.
Enjoy the MASHing, y’all. I know we will.
