Sure, I’m a little chapped that he didn’t do this last night when I was in attendance, but at least Matt Mervis is giving us something to enjoy on the big league Cubs’ off night.
It’s dinger number 28 on the season for the Cubs first base prospect, and like so many of his, it was a monster shot:
No one had any idea where that ball was going, and having been there last night, I can tell you he must have obliterated that thing. It’s only 328 feet to that wall, but as you can see, it’s three stories high. So to clear that by a good measure means it had to be waaaaay over 400 feet. Feel bad for the cars out on the street there.
Seems a pretty good bet that Mervis is going to top 30 home runs on the season at this point, which is a significant threshold in the minor leagues.
Here’s where some of you are wondering why he’s not coming up to the big leagues at this point, given how thoroughly he’s destroyed the minors. It’s the roster. Mervis is not eligible for the Rule 5 Draft this year, unlike DOZENS of other Cubs prospects. That means that they do not have to put him on the 40-man roster right now, and it also means that doing so by calling him up would necessarily take away a spot that the Cubs could otherwise use to protect a prospect who *IS* Rule 5 eligible this year. Basically, you have to decide if the developmental value of calling him up for a month is worth more than the risk of losing some other prospect. And given how dense the Cubs prospect crunch is, I’ve gotta believe the Cubs are going to want to keep as many as they can. Plus, Mervis is going to be playing in the Arizona Fall League this year, so he’s already going to get exposed to some additional advanced pitching.
Oh, also? Once the winter passes, all bets are off. If Mervis looks in Spring Training like he’s ready for the big leagues, the Cubs can just promote him on day one.
Bonus homer fun from that Iowa Cubs game tonight? Michael Hermosillo hit a monster shot of his own as he rehabs:
Less fun from the game is that Alexander Canario left with the trainer, and his status is TBD: