Just in case there were any concerns that, with Eric Hosmer still on the roster, Matt Mervis would be limited to match-up duty in this early part of his big league career, that isn’t going to be the case.
As David Ross explained before Mervis’s debut today, the plan is for Mervis to be in the lineup consistently, as Hosmer explicitly moves into a bench role:
There was no other way. If Mervis is up, he’s gotta be given the exposure necessary to develop/adjust/etc., to say nothing of the fact that he COULD wind up being a significant upgrade to the offense. I’m glad to hear that Hosmer is already taking to his new role, because it’s not hard to imagine him being important to Mervis’s transition.