(670 The Score) After a great deal of hype surrounded his promotion to the big leagues on May 5, Cubs first baseman Matt Mervis initially struggled before showcasing improvement in recent games.
Mervis, 25, is hitting .235 with two homers, seven RBIs and a .663 OPS in 14 games for the Cubs. He homered and had three RBIs in the Cubs’ 7-2 win against the Mets on Tuesday at Wrigley Field. Mervis is 7-of-23 with two homers in his past seven games after he hit .179 with a .448 OPS in his first seven games.
Those are promising signs in the eyes of Chicago president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer.
“It’s hard to hit in the big leagues,” Hoyer said in an interview with Dan Bernstein and Leila Rahimi on 670 The Score on Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s such a big change. The gap between Triple-A and the major leagues is real. The stuff you’re facing every single night for nine innings now in today’s game is so good that it’s a real adjustment. You know, some guys will hit the ground running for a little awhile, but almost inevitably, there’s going to be that moment – whether it’s at the very beginning or whether it’s after a little bit of time, after the league adjusts to you – everyone is going to have that moment of struggle. It’s a matter of how they get through that. I think he’s very mentally tough. I think he’s working through it. I was really excited for him last night to hit that home run in a big spot. And so we’ll just monitor him, monitor the quality of his at-bats. But he was definitely brought up here to play, and I think he can help us a lot. But to think that in today’s game it’s going to be a seamless, that’s just not what happens very often.”
The Cubs host the Mets on Wednesday evening in the middle contest of their three-game series at Wrigley Field. Pregame will start at 6:05 p.m. on 670 The Score, with first pitch set for 6:40 p.m.
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