Royals’ Whit Merrifield selected to play in his first MLB All-Star Game
Kansas City Royals infielder/outfielder, defensive jack-of-all-trades and offensive catalyst Whit Merrifield has been selected to the American League All-Star Team.
Major League Baseball announced the reserves for each roster on Sunday. The starters, selected by fan votes, were announced on Thursday night. The All-Star Game will take place on Tuesday, July 9 at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio.
Merrifield, 30, became the oldest position player in club history selected to his first All-Star Game. Reserves were selected through a combination of player voting and the MLB Commissioner’s Office.
“It’s a huge honor, first of all, to be selected,” Merrifield said. “To think back for me, four years ago, where I was in 2015 to get to this point to be selected as an All-Star. There’s only a handful of people that were by my side in 2015. It’s special to have gotten to this point. I’m excited to celebrate with them in Cleveland.”
Merrifield has admitted he nearly gave up on his big-league dreams after not being called up to the majors in 2015. He contemplated walking away from the game.
Merrifield and his teammates found out he’d been selected from Royals manager Ned Yost right before Sunday’s game in what Merrifield described as a “cool moment.”
“I have no idea what to expect, to be honest with you, but I’m looking forward to getting to know some of these guys that I’ve played against for a long time and looked up to and respect throughout the league,” Merrifield said. “I’m looking forward to sharing a locker room them and just getting to know them and talking to them because they’re the best in the world. I get to throw my name in there now, which is just kind of surreal.”
Royals third baseman Hunter Dozier placed second to Houston’s Alex Bregman in the fan voting, but the Royals (29-55) got just one representative on the AL roster. Merrifield lauded Dozier as being a deserving selection. Dozier is batting .294 with a .945 OPS, 13 home runs and 44 RBIs despite having been limited to 61 games due to some injuries this season.
Merrifield’s two hits in Sunday’s win against the Blue Jays pushed his total to 106, two behind D.J. LeMahieu for the Major League lead.
Merrifield appeared on the fan’s ballot as a second baseman and on the player’s ballot as an outfielder. He played the outfield periodically to start the season, but also played a large chunk of games (32) at second base. He moved to the outfield almost exclusively in May to make room for rookie infielder Nicky Lopez to play second base daily.
Despite playing all over the field, Merrifield has batting .301 with 40 extra-base hits, 42 RBIs and 11 stolen bases in 84 games (83 starts). He’s made starts in right field (36), center field (seven), first base (four), designated hitter (three) and left field (one), as well as second base.
He’s one of six players this season who has started at every outfield position and at least two infield positions.
“The best part of his game is the whole game,” Yost said of Merrifield. “He doesn’t have a ‘best part of his game.’ He’s very productive major-league baseball player. He can play any position adequately in the field. The only two I haven’t played him at has been pitcher and catcher. He’s a phenomenal offensive producer, and he’s led baseball hits last year, doing it again this year. He hits the ball to all fields. He’s just good at what he does.”
Last season, Merrifield led the majors in both stolen bases (45) and hits (192). That made him just the third player since World War II to lead the major leagues in both hits and steals. He joined Dee Gordon (2015) and Ichiro Suzuki (2001) in that regard.
“He’s very determined on the process here and helping us win ballgames,” Yost said. “He’s been very supportive. You never catch him or Alex (Gordon) down. They continue to be very supportive of their teammates. We have a great energy every single day because we’ve got guys that work hard and understand where we’re going.”
This story was originally published June 30, 2019 at 5:40 PM.
