Down on the Farm - 11/8/22

Prospect spotlight on the Cubs' Matt Mervis

Prospect Spotlight 🔦

Matt Mervis, RHS - Age: 24 - B/T: L/R, 6' 4" / 225 - Cubs (AAA)

• Born: 4/16/1998 in Washington, DC

• Draft: 2016, Washington Nationals, Round: 39, Overall Pick: 1174. Signed as a non-drafted free agent by the Chicago Cubs in 2020

• College: Duke

Until his Junior year at Duke, Matt Mervis was primarily a pitcher for his first two collegiate seasons. After a senior year that was cut short by the pandemic, the Washington, D.C. area native ended up only going to the plate 306 times as a college baseball player. Despite his limited experience as a hitter, the Cubs saw enough to sign him as a non-drafted free agent after the shortened 2020 five-round draft. Mervis struggled in his first pro season in 2021 — hitting just .208 / .310 / .367 (85 wRC+) in 304 plate appearances, mostly in Low-A Myrtle Beach.

In 2022, Matt Mervis broke out. The 24-year-old first baseman went deep 36 times across three levels, hitting a combined .309 / .379 / .606 (156 wRC+) in 578 plate appearances and earning the nickname “Mash” Mervis. His 36 home runs was tied for the 3rd most in all of minor league baseball this past season. Mervis seemed to get better as the season wore on. He improved his strikeout-to-walk ratio each time he moved up a level, finishing the year with an 18.5% strikeout rate and a 9% walk rate. He capped off his season with a September in which he hit nine homers for the Iowa Cubs (AAA). After the season, Mervis was named the Cubs minor league player of the year. This is what Jed Hoyer, the Cubs President of Baseball Operations, had to say about Mervis:

“I thought Matt had one of the best minor league seasons I’ve been around,” Jed Hoyer said Monday at his end-of-season press conference. “For a guy that struggled last year in Myrtle [Beach in] his first pro season, to start in South Bend and dominate at three levels and really actually almost improve his underlying numbers at each level is not something I’ve been a part of. Hopefully, it’ll continue this fall.”