After blazing start, Royals’ Whit Merrifield will try to break out of slump at Class AAA Omaha

Two months ago, Whit Merrifield approached folk-hero status in Kansas City. On Tuesday, he was demoted to Class AAA Omaha to make room for top prospect Raul A. Mondesi.

Royals manager Ned Yost described the move in practical terms. Merrifield, a utility man who had taken over the starting job at second base, was in the midst of a prolonged slump at the plate, batting just .170 (9 for 53) in July.

“He just needs to get some swings,” Yost said. “He’s proven at this level through a high number of at-bats that he can hit. He hit (Chris) Sale; he hit (Corey) Kluber. He hit everybody.

“He just got into a little bit of a slump, where he was starting to swing at a lot of breaking balls out of the zone.”

In 53 games, Merrifield, 27, batted .271 with a .305 on-base percentage and 15 doubles. He hit .356 in May and his average remained at .339 as recently as June 18. On Tuesday, Yost indicated that Merrifield would likely be back on the Royals’ roster in September — if not sooner.

“I know everybody here really enjoyed having Whit here,” Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer said. “We enjoyed what he did for us on the field. He was a great guy in the locker room and was doing a lot of good things for us on the field. I think it caught everybody by surprise a little bit, but stuff like this happens.”

This story was originally published July 27, 2016 at 8:07 AM with the headline "After blazing start, Royals’ Whit Merrifield will try to break out of slump at Class AAA Omaha."