The Chicago Cubs are calling up first base prospect Matt Mervis, the team announced Friday. The left-handed slugger moved incredibly quickly through the minors after being undrafted in 2020 and is in the starting lineup Friday afternoon in Wrigley Field for the Cubs, batting seventh. Edwin Ríos was optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move.
Mervis, 25, was a pitcher his freshman and sophomore years at Duke before starting to take regular at-bats his last two years. He went undrafted in the truncated 2020 draft (remember, there were only five rounds that year) and the Cubs signed him shortly thereafter. He spent the 2021 season mostly with Class A Myrtle Beach. Last season, Mervis played in 27 High-A games, 53 in Double-A and then 57 in Triple-A. In the 137 total games, he hit .309/.379/.606 with 40 doubles, 36 homers, 116 RBI and 92 runs.
This season, there was a bunch of hype surrounding Mervis in Cubs' fan circles, but the Cubs brought in veterans Eric Hosmer and Trey Mancini, which relegated Mervis to a return to Triple-A.
In 24 games in Triple-A this season, Mervis has hit .286/.402/.560 with seven doubles, six homers, 27 RBI and 27 runs with nearly as many walks as strikeouts. There's been a question about Mervis hitting lefties and though it's a very small sample (27 plate appearances), he's hit .300/.482/.700 against southpaws this season.
CBS Sports prospect expert R.J. Anderson recently had this to say on Mervis:
[W]e think Mervis has a chance to spend serious time in the majors this season. He ended last year with a .977 OPS in 57 Triple-A games, showing off above-average strength and a propensity for hitting right-handers. Even if Mervis tops out as a platoon player, he'll have been a scouting and developmental win given he joined the Cubs as an undrafted free agent.
Though it hasn't necessarily been played as a straight platoon (the two hit together in the lineup with one at DH sometimes), Hosmer would be the lefty-swinging portion of the first base tandem and he's hit .250/.294/.363 (78 OPS+) so far.
Surely the Cubs wouldn't be calling up Mervis to sit him on the bench, so this promotion might end up being bad news for Hosmer. Perhaps he's just moved into a bench role, but a release is possible. He's only making the league minimum, so there isn't really a financial component to keeping him around. The Cubs have lost five of six entering Thursday -- and were losing again when this news broke -- so there isn't a "clubhouse chemistry" component at this point, either.
Regardless, the best bet is Mervis finds regular playing time on the North Side moving forward.
