Mervis eyes fresh start in Miami: 'He has a real chance to help us out'

JUPITER, Fla. -- When in doubt, buy the Wi-Fi.

Matt Mervis was on a flight with his family from Maryland to Fort Lauderdale for his dad’s 60th birthday when urgent texts from his agent, the Cubs’ assistant general manager and a friend flooded his phone.

The Marlins had just acquired Mervis from the Cubs for cash and utility player Vidal Bruján, who had been designated for assignment. In doing so, Miami added a bounce-back candidate to its thin first-base depth.

“I was very excited,” Mervis said. “I loved my time with the Cubs. They treated me great. But some guys just need a fresh start and change of scenery, so I'm hoping that it works out for me.”

Mervis, who turns 27 on April 16, is nearly three years removed from leading the Minors with 78 extra-base hits, 310 total bases and 119 RBIs while ranking second in doubles (40), third in homers (36), fifth in slugging (.605) and eighth in OPS (.984). His performance launched him onto MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 first-base prospects list.

But the results didn’t immediately translate at the Major League level, as Mervis slashed .155/.222/.259 with 40 strikeouts and nine walks in 127 plate appearances from 2023-24. He missed time last summer with a hamate bone injury, then created bad habits to compensate upon his return.

More than anything, Mervis found himself blocked from consistent MLB reps when the Cubs traded for Michael Busch. As a result, Mervis shuttled back and forth between Triple-A and the Majors.

“I don't want to attribute too much of it to that,” Mervis said. “They gave me my opportunities. In ’23, I just had some bad luck. I hit the ball hard a lot, right at people. And last year, I think I just tried to prove that I deserved to be there, and got out of my approach, swung at some bad pitches. I would say it's more things that I can control than the shuttle.”

When speaking to possible breakout candidates, president of baseball operations Peter Bendix singled out Mervis, Griffin Conine, Kyle Stowers and Eric Wagaman. Somewhat older players with plenty of Minor League success but limited Major League experience and production, could they take that next step? That quartet will get every opportunity to do so with the 2025 Marlins.

Shortstop Xavier Edwards, who debuted three days before Mervis in May 2023, called the 6-foot-2, 225-pound left-handed slugger the teammate he was most looking forward to seeing this season.

“He's been very open with our hitting crew, and that's been great,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “He has a real chance with our team to help us out. Big power from the left side, has performed well in Triple-A, a little bit of time in the Major Leagues like many others inside our room.

“It's, ‘OK now, what do I need to do to kind of take the next step where I'm a consistent performer at the Major League level?’ And he's been very open to the practice ideas and stimulus that's been thrown his way. We saw he hit a big home run yesterday in live [BP]. That's good. It's still early, and to be able to take some of the work they're doing and have it translate out there, hopefully just builds confidence.”

Mervis credited connecting early on with the staff -- director of hitting Joe Migliaccio, hitting coach Pedro Guerrero and assistant hitting coach Derek Shomon -- and identifying what he struggled with and where he found success to tailor the end of his offseason training. In particular, Mervis worked on getting his back hip to control the forward move.

If early results are any indication, Mervis is on the right track.

“His profile is intriguing because he does some things that are really difficult to teach,” Migliaccio said. “The type of power he has is a difficult thing to be able to tap into. When you can acquire a player like that, and there are areas of his game that we feel like we can help with -- whether it's plate discipline or in-zone contact -- mechanically diving into that.

“And there's probably some targeted areas that we can likely continue to enhance and push in the right direction. Let's just say, hypothetically, it doesn't click all the way. We still have a really good hitter on our hands. And if it does click all the way, it's going to be really fun to watch.”