The Chicago White Sox were in a great spot early in the season thanks to Yermin Mercedes. It would have been easy for this team to fall off after some big injuries but Mercedes helped them stay afloat. He was as good as any player in Major League Baseball for the first month of the season. He came down to earth a little bit which was expected but the true fall he had was now. It led to him being sent to AAA.
It all started to go downhill when he hit a home run on a 3-0 pitch off a position player in a blowout. That is not the reason he started to struggle but it is strange that it lines up pretty perfectly. It is a shame to see that it ended up going down that way.
Well, he hinted at his retirement on his Instagram story in the afternoon on Wednesday which had a lot of people wondering. During the White Sox game against the Twins a few hours later, Mercedes announced his retirement on an actual Instagram post. It has a large caption that describes a bit about his career and he ends it with “it’s over”. The picture is a blacked-out square with the words “it’s over” on it.
It is a crazy way for him to go out if he actually sticks with it. His arrival to the MLB in 2021 was a fantastic story. A lot of people figured he would make it back to the big league roster once again at some point once he got his confidence back in AAA. Well, it doesn’t appear that will be the case.
It appears that Yermin Mercedes has officially announced his retirement on Instagram. pic.twitter.com/evgDJrqB6x
— Vinnie Parise (@VinnieParise) July 22, 2021
Yermin Mercedes will always be remembered fondly by Chicago White Sox fans.
Mercedes, if his retirement is something he sticks with, will end his Major League career with 7 RBIs, 37 RBIs, 26 runs scored, and a slash line of .271/.328/.404 for an OPS of .732. Those are some nice stats for a player who worked so hard to reach the big leagues at all. He put a lot of time into independent leagues before his arrival to Major League Baseball.
Without some of the injuries that the White Sox sustained in 2021, Mercedes might have never had his opportunity. He will always be remembered as one of the pieces who helped them stay afloat during that time. If they do go on to win the World Series at some point, he will be thought of as a part of their success because of how good he was when times were tough. If it really is over, we wish him well.