Former Royals star Whit Merrifield enters first postseason on hot streak with Blue Jays
Two-hit Whit returned during the final two weeks of the season and helped the Toronto Blue Jays clinch home-field advantage in the first round of Major League Baseball’s playoffs.
That’s Whit Merrifield, who spent the first six-plus seasons with the Royals before being traded to the Blue Jays in August.
Merrifield irked Royals fans shortly before the trade deadline when he missed a trip to Toronto because he hadn’t received a COVID vaccine. Merrifield said he would consider getting a shot if he could compete in the postseason.
After being dealt to the Blue Jays, Merrifield got vaccinated so he could play in Toronto, and lo and behold, he’ll be in the playoffs, which begin Friday.
Toronto is the No. 1 wild card after the Blue Jays won eight of their last 11 games.
Merrifield finished the season on a tear, batting 417 with four home runs, four doubles and 11 RBIs in his last 14 games. He had five multi-hit games in that span.
After spending much of his time a reserve with the Blue Jays, Merrifield appeared in Toronto’s final 13 games, making 12 starts, mostly at second base.
Gregor Chisholm of the Toronto Star wrote a column saying Merrifield should start for the Blue Jays in the playoffs.
“Hot streaks are nice, when they come, but this is the kind of player that I am,” Merrifield told Chisholm. “I can do different things to help, to impact the game and it’s nice that they’re coming at some big times for us.”
Merrifield twice led the league in hits with the Royals, but he struggled early on with the Blue Jays. He batted .150 (9 for 60) with two extra-base hits and made just 18 starts in a 40-game span from Aug. 7 to Sept. 18, as Jays Journal noted.
But with the postseason nearing, Merrifield kicked it into another gear. When he apologized publicly for his comment about being open to getting the vaccine if he was in the playoffs, Merrifield said getting a chance at the postseason was a dream of his, and it didn’t mean he wanted out of Kansas City.
But he’s thrilled that dream is coming true, and even happier that the Blue Jays will play host to the Mariners for the three-game series.
“We want to play the wild-card series in Toronto,” Whit Merrifield told SportsNet as the Blue Jays were on the verge of securing home-field advantage. “Clinching the playoff spot was huge. Obviously, it’s what you strive to do from the get-go. But we knew what was at hand still and we knew we controlled that.”
The Blue Jays have leaned on Merrifield, 33, for more than his play on the field. Some of the fundamentals Merrifield learned in the Royals’ system have been shared with Toronto’s younger players.
“It’s always a good thing to have guys set a really good example on the bases,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider told Chisholm.. “The guys can feed off that. He’s an extremely, extremely good baserunner … Some conversations he’s had with younger players since he’s been here — on technique, things like that — have been awesome. He draws attention to it when he’s out there.”
Merrifield at the Blue Jays play at 3 p.m. Friday on ESPN.
