Mervis is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Diamondbacks.
With southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez taking the hill for Arizona, Mervis will be one of three left-handed-hitting Marlins regulars who will retreat to the bench. Eric Wagaman will pick up a start at first base in place of Mervis, who has gone 9-for-25 with six home runs and 11 RBI over his last eight games.
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Marlins' Matt Mervis: Belts another home run
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Mervis went 1-for-3 with a solo home run in Wednesday's 6-2 loss to the Diamondbacks.
Mervis tied the game up at 1-1 in the fourth inning, when he took Brandon Pfaadt deep to right-center field for a 396-foot solo homer. Mervis has logged four home runs over his last five games, and his six long balls this year is tied for fourth-most in the majors.
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Marlins' Matt Mervis: Smacks pinch-hit homer
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Mervis went 1-for-2 with a three-run home run in Sunday's 11-4 win over the Nationals.
Pinch hitting for Jonah Bride in the seventh inning, Mervis took the second pitch he saw from Jorge Lopez deep to center field for a 411-foot, three-run home run. Mervis has smacked a home run in three consecutive outings and has gone 9-for-27 with five runs scored, five home runs and 11 RBI since the beginning of April.
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Marlins' Matt Mervis: Idle versus lefty
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Mervis is not in the Marlins' starting lineup against the Nationals on Sunday.
Mervis has smacked home runs in back-to-back outings, but he'll begin Sunday's game in the dugout with the Nationals sending southpaw MacKenzie Gore to the mound. Eric Wagaman will shift over to first base while Jonah Bride serves as the designated hitter for Sunday's series finale.
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Marlins' Matt Mervis: Cranks fourth homer
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Mervis went 1-for-3 with one walk and a solo home run in Saturday's 7-6 win over the Nationals.
Mervis opened the scoring in the second inning when he took Trevor Williams deep to right field for a solo home run. Mervis has smacked homers in back-to-back games, and the 28-year-old first baseman is slashing .281/.333/.656 with five runs scored, four home runs and eight RBI across 36 plate appearances, though he's also struck out 14 times.
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Marlins' Matt Mervis: Powers offense in win
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Mervis went 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI in Wednesday's 5-0 win over the Mets.
While a fifth-inning RBI single that brought home the game's first run wound up being all the offense Max Meyer and the Marlins' bullpen would need, Mervis added some impressive insurance by golfing an Edwin Diaz slider over the right-field fence in the ninth for a two-run shot. After a 2-for-15 start to the season, Mervis has heated up with six hits and six RBI in the last four games, including his first three long balls of 2025.
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Marlins' Matt Mervis: Powers team with two homers
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Mervis went 3-for-5 with a pair of home runs and three RBI in Saturday's 4-0 win over Atlanta.
Mervis got the scoring started with a two-run shot off AJ Smith-Shawver in the first inning, his first homer of the season, before launching a 421-foot blast off lefty Jose Suarez in the seventh. It was quite a performance from the 26-year-old Mervis, who had gone just 2-for-15 (.133) in five games prior to Saturday. Mervis should continue to see regular playing time in the middle of Miami's order.
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Marlins' Matt Mervis: On bench against lefty
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Mervis is out of the lineup for Monday's game against the Mets.
With southpaw David Peterson on the bump for the Mets, Marlins manager Clayton McCullough will run out a starting nine consisting of seven right-handed or switch hitters. Mervis will be joined on the bench by fellow left-handed hitters Griffin Conine and Kyle Stowers.
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Marlins' Matt Mervis: Day off against lefty
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Mervis isn't in the lineup for Saturday's game against the Pirates.
The Marlins will load up their lineup with right-handed bats against southpaw Bailey Falter, so Mervis will begin Saturday's contest in the dugout. Eric Wagaman will fill in as Miami's first baseman and bat fourth.
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Marlins' Matt Mervis: Goes yard Monday
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Mervis went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Monday's split-squad game against the Nationals.
His second-inning shot off Mitchell Parker was the second homer of the spring in eight appearances for Mervis. The 26-year-old slugger has made some loud contact in camp, batting .292 (7-for-24) with two doubles in addition to his long balls, but his 1:9 BB:K suggests he still needs to make more frequent contact to be a trustworthy fantasy asset -- he has a career 31.7 percent strikeout rate in 126 big-league PAs.
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Marlins' Matt Mervis: Worked to fix swing in offseason
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Mervis believes he has corrected some bad habits that developed in his swing mechanics and his approach last season, Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald reports. "Last year, I think I just tried to prove that I deserved to be [in the majors] and got out of my approach, swung it some bad pitches. I would say [my struggles were] more things that I could control," Mervis said this week.
The numbers bear out that assessment, as Mervis' 55.1 percent swing rate with the Cubs in 2024 was almost five points higher than it had been the season before. The 26-year-old also dealt with a fractured hamate bone in his hand that cost him about six weeks while with Triple-A Iowa. Acquired by the Marlins this offseason in a trade, Mervis appears to be locked into a spot on the 26-man roster following Saturday's optioning of prospect Deyvison De Los Santos to Triple-A Jacksonville. Mervis should serve on the strong side of a platoon at first base with Jonah Bride while also seeing time at DH, and the confidence that comes with not feeling like he's fighting for a job could help him regain the form that saw him slash .287/.394/.555 and slug 37 homers over 157 games for Iowa in the 2022-23 seasons. He's looked good so far this spring, going 6-for-20 (.300) with two doubles and a homer in seven Grapefruit League appearances.
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Marlins' Matt Mervis: Launches first homer of spring
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Mervis went 1-for-2 with a two-run home run in Tuesday's Grapefruit League game against the Nationals.
Starting at DH and batting sixth, Mervis drove a Trevor Williams offering over the right-field fence in the second inning for his first homer of the spring. Assuming he has at least a decent camp, Mervis is expected to open the season on the strong side of a platoon with Jonah Bride at first base while also mixing in at DH. While Mervis struggled in limited big-league opportunities with the Cubs, he sports a career .269/.371/.511 slash line over 242 games at Triple-A with 52 home runs.
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Marlins' Matt Mervis: Will get long look in camp
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Mervis will be given a chance to win a starting role with the Marlins in spring training, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports.
Jonah Bride is penciled in as the starting first baseman headed into camp, but the 29-year-old doesn't profile as much of an offensive threat given his career .667 OPS and 12 homers over 565 big-league plate appearances. Mervis is coming off a brutal 2024 campaign that included a .235/.329/.434 in 81 games for Triple-A Iowa in the Cubs' system, but the 26-year-old was viewed as one of the top first-base prospects in baseball just one year before after slugging 22 home runs with a .282/.399/.533 line in 100 appearances for Iowa. If Mervis can regain that form, he should quickly seize a spot at the heart of a Marlins' batting order that is lacking in established power threats. Mervis and Bride could also end up platooning at first base, with Mervis on the strong side, if rookie Deyvison De Los Santos shows enough this spring to break camp as the team's starting DH.
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Cubs' Matt Mervis: Makes return from IL
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Mervis (hand) was reinstated from Triple-A Iowa's 7-day injured list Tuesday and has gone 4-for-17 with five walks since rejoining the lineup.
Mervis missed about six-and-a-half weeks with a hand injury and didn't require a rehab assignment before being activated. The 26-year-old has spent the majority of the season at Iowa, slashing .238/.332/.463 with 13 home runs and two stolen bases over 60 games.
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Cubs' Matt Mervis: Sent down to Triple-A
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The Cubs optioned Mervis to Triple-A Iowa on Saturday.
Mervis was called up to the big club April 23 after a strong start in Triple-A, where he slashed .288/.402/.606 with six doubles, five home runs and 13 RBI over 82 plate appearances with Iowa. That hasn't translated to the majors, as he's gone 3-for-26 with three RBI and eight strikeouts over nine games, and manager Craig Counsell noted that Mervis needs to go "back to the drawing board" in Triple-A, per Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune. The Cubs called up infielder Miles Mastrobuoni in a corresponding move.
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Cubs' Matt Mervis: Not starting Thursday
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Mervis is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Astros.
Following his promotion from Triple-A Iowa on Tuesday, Mervis served as the Cubs' designated hitter in both of the ensuing two games, going 0-for-6 with three strikeouts between those contests. Though he'll retreat to the bench Thursday, the lefty-hitting Mervis will likely see the bulk of the starts at DH against right-handed pitching until the Cubs get Seiya Suzuki (oblique) back from the 10-day injured list.
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Cubs' Matt Mervis: Expected to be called up
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The Cubs are expected to recall Mervis from Triple-A Iowa prior to Tuesday's game against the Astros, Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register reports.
Hayden Wesneski is also headed back to the majors, per Birch. There's no word yet on what the corresponding moves will be, but Wesneski would have to replace an injured player since he hasn't been down 10 days yet. That could point to an injured list stint for Ian Happ (hamstring). Mervis is slashing .288/.402/.606 with five home runs and a 19:12 K:BB over his first 82 plate appearances with Iowa this season. He could see some action in the designated hitter spot for the Cubs.
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Cubs' Matt Mervis: Roster bid falls short
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The Cubs optioned Mervis to Triple-A Iowa on Sunday.
Despite posting a strong slash line of .300/.432/.400 in 19 Cactus League games, Mervis fell well shy of making the season-opening 26-man roster, as he was cut with 42 players still remaining in big-league camp. After a rough showing in his first taste of the big leagues in 2023, Mervis will likely need to mash at Iowa and/or wait for an injury to hit the Cubs' first-base/designated-hitter ranks before he gets another extended opportunity in Chicago.
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Cubs' Matt Mervis: Optioned to Iowa
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The Cubs optioned Mervis to Triple-A Iowa on Thursday, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports.
There was a lot of hype around Mervis when he got the call to Chicago in early May, but he'll head back to the farm after posting a brutal .167/.242/.289 batting line with three home runs and 32 strikeouts across his first 99 big-league plate appearances. Cody Bellinger (knee) has been activated off the injured list in a corresponding roster move and is expected to factor in at first base moving forward.
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Cubs' Matt Mervis: Opens scoring Saturday
Rotowire
Mervis went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Saturday's 4-0 win over the Giants.
Mervis was in quite the rough patch over his last nine games, going just 1-for-26 with a 3:11 BB:K. He at least put an end to his power drought with a third-inning solo shot off Jakob Junis that ended up being all the offense the Cubs needed. Mervis has three homers over his first 24 big-league games, but he's struggled to a .173/.247/.309 slash line with 10 RBI and eight runs scored through 89 plate appearances. He is likely to remain in a strong-side platoon role while learning on the job against major-league pitching. Trey Mancini figures to play first base against most lefties.
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