Tag: Oscar Mercado

  • Born in Columbia but moved to Florida when he was 7 years old.
  • Drafted by Cardinals in 2nd round in 2013.
  • Acquired by Indians at the trade deadline in 2018 for minor leaguers Conner Capel and Jhon Torres.
  • Made debut in May, 2019 and quickly established himself as starting centerfielder, primarily due to an injury to Bradley Zimmer and the struggles of veteran Leonys Martín.
  • Received three third-place votes in the 2019 Rookie of the Year voting.
  • Struggled in 2020 while sharing the centerfield job with Delino DeShields.
  • Started 2021 season in Columbus, but given an everyday opportunity in left field following the trade of Eddie Rosario.
  • Selected off waivers by the Phillies in June, 2022 and played one game for them before getting put back on waivers. Cleveland then selected him off waivers and he spent one more week with the Guardians in July before getting sent to the minors.

Strikeouts vs Position Players

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In his final at bat last night, Bo Naylor struck out against Diamondbacks infielder Josh Rojas.

He’s the 14th Cleveland hitter to strike out against a position player over the last 50 seasons joining:

Martinez’s inclusion gets an asterisk because it was an add situation.

With the Indians leading the A’s 10-2 in the bottom of the 8th, Martinez fouled off a pitch against A’s pitcher Kelly Downs, who then began shouting at Martinez because he swung “too hard.”

Martinez shouted back and both players were ejected with the count at 2-2.

A’s manager Tony La Russa brought third baseman Kevin Seitzer in to pitch, and called upon , who took the only pitch he saw for a strike, resulting in a strikeout.

Some odd rules apply to this situation, which officially result in Seitzer getting credit for a strikeout of Martinez, even though they never actually faced each other.

It’s also worth mentioning Naylor’s strikeout occurred before collecting his first career hit. While I can’t confirm this, it’s reasonable to guess he may be the first player in MLB history to strike out against a position player before recording a hit.

Mercado Rejoins Team

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After a brief stint with the Phillies, Oscar Mercado is back.

He’s now on a short list of players to appear in a game for Cleveland, play elsewhere in the majors, and then return to Cleveland in the same season.

This is a difficult bit of trivia to research, but I am aware of at least one other instance: Jeff Manto in 1998.

Manto made the Opening Day roster – he actually started at 1B on Opening Day in place of Jim Thome, with Randy Johnson on the mound. Manto was then placed on waivers and picked up by Detroit.

The Tigers released Manto in June and a few days later he re-signed with Cleveland and was sent to AAA. In August, Manto was recalled, and appeared in a few more games for Cleveland down the stretch.

Manto was acquired by the Indians in six different transactions throughout his career.