Chicago White Sox catcher Yermín Mercedes had a long road to get to the big leagues, but now that he’s arrived, all he’s done to celebrate is make baseball history.
Mercedes, who had just one MLB at-bat prior to the start of the 2021 season, made his season debut on Friday against the Los Angeles Angels, going 5-for-5 with a double and four runs batted in for the White Sox in a 12-8 victory.
As if that debut weren’t spectacular enough, Mercedes followed it up by collecting three more hits, including a home run, and two more runs batted in Saturday night before finally being retired in the top of the eighth inning on a fly out to center field.
That still gave Mercedes eight hits in eight at-bats to start off the regular season, and according to the Elias Sports Bureau, it also gave the catcher a place in baseball’s record books. According to Elias, Mercedes is the first player since 1900 to begin a season with eight consecutive hits:
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Mercedes, who is 28 years old, has bounced around the baseball world for nearly a decade, starting out with the Washington Nationals’ organization way back in 2011. Since then he has played in a wide variety of leagues, finally settling in with the White Sox organization in 2018.
It is highly unlikely that he will be able to continue batting at a torrid .889 clip, but he has given White Sox fans (and baseball fans in general) something to cheer about as the new season has gotten underway.
