Welcome to the record books, Yermin Mercedes.
The Chicago White Sox rookie got three hits in his first three at bats in Saturday’s 5-3 defeat to the Los Angeles Angels to improve to 8-for-8 to start 2021, the most consecutive hits to make a Season starting by a player in the modern era (since 1900).
Mercedes, who entered one Major League at bat of the season and went 0-for-1 in 2020, has started the past two games with DH and tortured the Angels with his two-strike hitting – five of the eight hits have come. with two strokes.
After homering for his first homerun of his career in the second inning on Saturday, the eighth hit in a row by Mercedes in the sixth inning, a double that bounced off the warning track in left-center.
The eight hits:
Friday
Saturday
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6.421 foot home runs from a 2-2 splitter from Alex Cobb
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7. Ground ball of a 1-2 Cobb sinker
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8. Double to deep left center of a 1-0 sinker from Cobb
In his ninth at bat, Mercedes flew into midfield to end his streak. He ended 3-for-4 with two RBI’s and a run scored on Saturday.
Mercedes is a 28-year-old rookie who has bounced around three organizations, originally signed by the Nationals and spent time with the Orioles before the White Sox signed him in 2018. He wasn’t expected to be much of the lineup, but Eloy Jimenez’s injury has increased playing time, with projected DH Andrew Vaughn starting in left field for the past two games.
Mercedes has spent most of his time in the minor leagues with catcher, but has a .302 minor league average throughout his career, hitting .317 / .388 / .581 with 23 home runs in 95 in 2019 matches between Double-A and Triple-A.
“I’m so excited right now,” Mercedes said after hitting 5-for-5 on Friday. “I don’t even know what to say or what to say now, but I’m just so happy.” Before Mercedes, Cecil Travis was the only player since 1900 to get five hits in his first career start, going 5-for-7 for the Washington Senators in 1933.
The aggregate record for consecutive hits at any point in a season is 12, shared by the Cubs’ Johnny Kling (1902) and two Red Sox players, Pinky Higgins (1938) and Walt Dropo (1952).