Welcome to record books, Yermin Mercedes.
Chicago debutant White Sox scored three hits in his first three bats in Saturday’s 5-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels to improve to eight by eight to begin in 2021, the most consecutive hits to start a season for anyone player in modern times (since 1900).
Mercedes, who had a major league in the bat-in of the season and went 0-on-1 in 2020, have started DH the last two games and tortured the Angels with their two-stroke strike: five of the eight hits have come with twice.
After scoring in the second inning on Saturday for his first home run, Mercedes ’eighth straight run came in the sixth inning, a double that came off the warning track in the center left.
The eight successes:
Friday
Saturday
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6. 421 feet from home fleeing a 2-2 split from Alex Cobb
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7. Simple 1-2 ball of Cobb
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8. Double to center depth to the left of a Cobb 1-0 sinker
In his ninth bat-bat, Mercedes came out on the center field to finish his streak. He finished 3-on-4 with two RBIs 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 who spent time with the Orioles before the White Sox signed him in 2018. He was not expected to be a major part of the lineup, but Eloy Jiménez’s injury has opened up playing time, with projected DH Andrew Vaughn starting the last two games on the left field.
Mercedes has spent most of her time in the minor leagues catcher, but has a career-low minor league average of .302 and, in 2019, reached .317 / .388 / .581 with 23 homers in 95 games. between Double-A and Triple-A.
“I’m very excited right now,” Mercedes said after going 5 for 5 on Friday. “I don’t even know what to say or what I mean, but I’m so happy.” Before Mercedes, the only player since 1900 to achieve five successes in his early career was Cecil Travis, who won 5 for 7 for the Washington Senators in 1933.
The overall record for consecutive hits at any time in a season is 12, shared by Johnny Kling (1902) of the Cubs and two Red Sox players, Pinky Higgins (1938) and Walt Dropo (1952).