We’re always excited for “The Next Big Thing,” the shiny new object. Is the flavor of the month going to be a flash-in-the-pan, or turn out to be something special with long term staying power. Time will tell with the Yerminator, Yermin Mercedes, the latest in the next wave of stellar Southside Hit Men.
The stocky Sox slugger (listed at 5’11”, 245) wears number #73, which in football, typically belongs to an offensive lineman. Makes sense as that’s the type of physique the Chicago White Sox catcher possesses. The Yerminator is a lot of fun, as he’s a wild card.
He’s a baseball version of a growth stock, high risk, high reward. Mercedes is a roll of the dice. Speaking of wagers, you can check out BetQL for their picks of all the games on tonight’s slate of MLB games here. On any given night, the White Sox are a safe bet to score some runs, usually a lot of runs. Mercedes drove in three more runs today, as he had a double and triple in the White Sox 9-3 thrashing of Kansas City.
The win gave the Sox a three game sweep at the Royals, and as it stands right now, Yermin Mercedes is their biggest offensive weapon. Yes, the best offense in baseball is led by a guy who only had one plate appearance at the Major League level entering this season.
Mercedes bounced around with the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals organizations, and even spent time in Indy ball before he finally caught on with the Pale Hose.
Now he’s leading the club in batting average (.373), on base percentage (.407), slugging (.598), hits (38) and ops (1.005). In April, he became the first player since at least 1900 to begin a season with eight straight hits. On April 5, Mercedes was named the AL Player of the Week after going 9-for-14 with a 1.643 OPS, .643 average and 6 RBI.
And all signs indicate he’s just getting started.
He’s in the same lineup everyday with the reigning AL MVP (Jose Abreu), the 2019 batting champion (Tim Anderson), Yoan Moncada, well we could go on and on. The Southsiders have the largest run differential in MLB, the highest OBP and the lowest ERA in the AL.
And Yermin Mercedes is just getting warmed up. Expect to see a lot more sky-pointing, en masse, early and often.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.