Simon Mercedes
6’7” 200 lbs
Throws Right
DOB: 2/17/1992
International signing
Signed for $800,000 in 2012
Three things about Mercedes:
1. Alex Speier has been blowing him up this spring.
http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2014/03/25/buzz-from-the-backfields-red-sox-pitching-prospect-simon-mercedes-dazzles/
http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2014/04/01/red-sox-minor-league-affiliate-roster-analysis-high-a-salem-red-sox/
http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2014/04/04/red-sox-minor-league-roundup-a-new-season-and-a-search-for-the-next-mookie-betts-begins/
First game was last night: 3.2 IP, 2 H, 0 BB, 4 K, 4/1 GB/FB
What do we have here?
6’7” 200 lbs
Throws Right
DOB: 2/17/1992
International signing
Signed for $800,000 in 2012
Three things about Mercedes:
1. Alex Speier has been blowing him up this spring.
http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2014/03/25/buzz-from-the-backfields-red-sox-pitching-prospect-simon-mercedes-dazzles/
Yet Mercedes’ stuff on Monday, according to a number of members of the Red Sox organization, was not his best of the spring. Most pitchers, after all, were working with diminished velocity while making concessions to the rain that rendered the footing on the mound uncertain. In Mercedes’ prior outing, he’d worked at 95-100 mph (yes, one of his fastballs reached triple digits) while displaying a standout curveball. It was the sort of combination about which the Red Sox could daydream when they signed him out of the Dominican to an $800,000 bonus in 2012.
He’d shown neither that kind of velocity nor that power on his curve in his first full pro season in 2013, when Mercedes went 2-2 with a 3.13 ERA, 8.1 strikeouts and 2.4 walks per nine innings in 63 1/3 innings for Short-Season Single-A Lowell. He’d still been impressive with a low-90s fastball and a swing-and-miss change — particularly in his last six outings,when he punched out 37 and walked seven in 26 1/3 innings — but most evaluators considered him a likely bullpen arm in the future.
But it turned out that the massive right-hander had an injury in the tip of his right middle finger that, while not serious enough to stop him from pitching, hindered his curveball grip. With that injury seemingly healed, Mercedes has shown a power three-pitch mix this spring that could rekindle the possibility of remaining a long-term starter.
http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2014/04/01/red-sox-minor-league-affiliate-roster-analysis-high-a-salem-red-sox/
– Right-hander Simon Mercedes forced his way past Greenville and to Salem with perhaps the standout performance among Red Sox lower-level minor leaguers in spring training. More on that here.
http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2014/04/04/red-sox-minor-league-roundup-a-new-season-and-a-search-for-the-next-mookie-betts-begins/
– RHP Simon Mercedes (High-A Salem)
Like Callahan, Mercedes showed up in great shape this spring, and he showed outrageous stuff in his outings: a fastball that registered up to 100 mph, a diving swing-and-miss change and a swing-and-miss curveball that hadn’t been present last year in Lowell due to a finger injury. If he sustains his curveball, the 22-year-old will change perception and assert himself as a potential big league starter with multiple plus offerings.
First game was last night: 3.2 IP, 2 H, 0 BB, 4 K, 4/1 GB/FB
What do we have here?