‘Toughness and grit and grind’: Why Whit Merrifield is Kansas City Royals’ new iron man
Being a streaky player typically carries a dubious connotation. It implies fleeting stretches of excellence.
However, Whit Merrifield has become streaky in a commendable way. The two-time All-Star infielder/outfielder’s streaks exemplify his ability to find consistency in a game where results are volatile.
He owns the Kansas City Royals record for longest hitting streak, set in 2018-19. On Wednesday, he tied the club record for consecutive stolen bases without having been caught.
Friday, he tied the Royals record for consecutive games played. And Saturday night against the Cardinals at Kauffman Stadium, he officially passed Alcides Escobar as the franchise’s iron man by playing in his 422nd straight game.
Escobar played in 421 consecutive games from September 26, 2015 through July 7, 2018.
“I mean, who wants to come out of the lineup,” Merrifield said. “I don’t really understand people’s fascination with giving guys a day off. I’ve never understood that. Unless you’ve got something nagging, you’re a catcher playing a day game after a night game, then I could understand, but besides that I’ve just never understood the fascination with giving guys a day.
“It’s just never been something that I’ve understood. Why would you ever want to come out of the lineup? If you’re here to play baseball, don’t you want to play baseball and not watch it? You could watch it when you’re not playing.”
Merrifield’s streak started on June 25, 2018, which gives him the longest active streak in Major League Baseball.
When asked about the element of consistency within his ability to produce streaks, Merrifield seemingly embraced that sentiment.
“It means that you’ve done something right,” he said, “and put your body in a good habit to be able to repeat itself over and over again when you have streaks, whether it be hitting, defensively, playing.
“So yeah, it’s something I take some pride in.”
Challenge of mind and body
The major-league season stretches 162 games over 187 days.
The Royals had a day off on Thursday, and they’ll play each day until their next day off on Aug. 30, the day after a 10-game road trip with trips to Chicago, Houston and Seattle.
They’ll have day games after night games. Potentially they’ll have to sit through rain delays or start times that get pushed back, or extra innings.
When asked about the most impressive part of Merrifield’s streak, Royals first baseman/outfielder Ryan O’Hearn acknowledged the physical work that goes into getting ready for every game, but also emphasized a different challenge.
“It’s a mental grind more than anything, really,” O’Hearn said. “Your body is going to go through little things here and there. We work on that in the training room and get that all squared out, but just to be able to go out there and know you’re going to play every day, mentally, is a lot harder than it sounds.
“We’re all human beings. There’s days when you wake up and you’re just not feeling it for whatever reason. Part of being a major-league player is getting yourself ready to go at your best every day, and to be able to do it for that long, that many games in a row is extremely impressive.”
Merrifield made a point to credit by name Royals head athletic trainer Nick Kenney, assistant trainer Kyle Turner, physical therapist Jeff Blom, tissue therapist/assistant trainer Chris DeLucia, strength and conditioning coach Ryan Stoneberg and assistant strength and conditioning coach Luis Perez.
But Merrifield estimates only 25% of playing everyday comes from physical preparation such as working out and diet.
The other 75% comes from mentality, waking up excited to play and by extension being willing to do what’s necessary to compete.
“There’s so many minor disciplines that allow a guy to be able to do that,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “The discipline of rest. The discipline of work. The balance of the two is hard for a player to understand how to do that before they jump in this thing for a while, then there’s a level of toughness and grit and grind.
“That’s something Whit has always showed by how he goes and plays the game. He’s not half-stepping out there. He’s one of the dirtier players that walks off the field. When you have that mix of grit and grind and durability, you know you’re watching something pretty special.”
‘I thought it was broken’
While Merrifield is a gifted professional athlete who trains all year, he’s hardly impervious to pain.
Last season in Cincinnati after he dived for a ball in the outfield and landed on his shoulder, Merrifield played for a week despite hardly being able to throw a baseball.
That’s not the only example of Merrifield playing while physically compromised.
Earlier this season in Oakland, Merrifield fouled a pitch off the top of his right foot. For several moments as he hobbled, it appeared he might have to come out of the game.
He gutted it out for the rest of that game, but his battle had just started.
That foul ball left him to support his body weight, run, swing, push off and throw with one full functional foot and that was basically a piece of bruised fruit that sent pain through his body.
“I thought it was broken, I really did,” Merrifield said.
The pain woke him up in the middle of the night. In the morning, it took him a while to get out of bed. He couldn’t walk or put pressure on the injured foot.
He got treatment, took some pain medicine and went out for batting practice to test it out.
He pushed through, and he left it up to the coaching and training staffs to tell him he couldn’t play. They didn’t, and he surely wouldn’t take himself out of the lineup.
“I’ve always felt like there’s nothing I can do to help the team from on the bench,” Merrifield said.
A unique toughness
Merrifield, 32, spent six seasons in the minors before he made his big-league debut in 2016. Then, after 81 games in the majors, he was sent back down to start 2017.
That long tenure in the minors surely contributes to his mentality of not wanting to come out of the lineup, but it’s not where it originated.
Merrifield, the son of a productive minor-league player, always headed the message his father, Bill, passed on: It’s difficult to reach the majors and even harder to stay.
“Things weren’t easy for him in the minor leagues,” Royals assistant general manager J.J. Picollo said. “He had to grind it out all the time. Part of that is being ready to play every day. I think it was instilled in him prior to us signing him. I think maybe it was accentuated because he valued every night he was in the lineup because he was always out to prove somebody wrong. ‘Hey, I’m better.’”
Picollo oversaw the amateur scouting department when Merrifield was drafted, and he has overseen the player development system as Merrifield climbed to the majors.
“He’s just driven,” Picollo said. “I think it has just filtered its way through to the major leagues. I think right now he sees himself, and we do as well, as a leader on the team. Part of the way he leads is this is how I come every day. I’m here to play. I think it says a lot. We always respected Escobar.”
Through 114 games this season, Merrifield has batted .270 as the Royals’ leadoff hitter. He leads the majors with 33 stolen bases (in 35 attempts). He leads the team in hits (123), runs (63) and doubles (25). He also ranks third on the team in RBIs (54), just one behind Carlos Santana.
“Baseball, I think, is the most demanding sport on an athlete physically and mentally because you have to do it every single day,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore said. “You cannot put whatever you’re dealing with away or aside and just gear up once a week and go out there when you’re already a highly physical, extremely talented athlete and you can focus for one day a week and go out and play.
“In other sports they move a lot faster so there’s less things to think about, if you will. In baseball, it requires so much concentration and focus and preparation and physicality to go out and play through all the elements, the rain delays, the travel, all the things you have to deal with. Now, guys are dealing with the COVID protocols.”
Moore said it’s hard to put into words the daily adjustments and mental “adaptation” necessitated by the COVID protocols and the restrictions, but he stressed that aspect shouldn’t be overlooked as part of the daily challenge.
It might mean not being able to go to restaurants on the road or spend time with teammates in large groups. Not to mention just avoiding the virus and being forced out of the lineup because of illness or contact tracing.
“It speaks to his baseball toughness, and baseball toughness is unique because it requires a mental and physical preparation to go out and perform and play every single day regardless of what you’re dealing with in your personal life and then, obviously, your professional life with the up and down nature of what baseball is about,” Moore said. “It requires a commitment level that I think is unmatched, a commitment level that is superior.”
This story was originally published August 14, 2021 at 12:19 PM.
