Summer is officially here, and these youngsters’ bats are scorching hot. See how they’ve made big strides as we approach the midseason mark.
, we examined how five American League rookies have recovered from slow starts to their seasons. Next up, we’ll highlight how this group of National League hitters have started to catch fire at the plate.
To this point, the National League rookie conversation has been mostly dominated by pitchers. Paul Skenes, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shōta Imanaga, Jared Jones and Gavin Stone have all put up huge campaigns. But their stellar play has overshadowed some strong showings by NL rookie hitters. Offensively, though, is where the 6’3”, 195-pound Merrill has begun to thrive. An up-and-down first two months saw Merrill make lots of contact with very little power—a fine hitting profile given his speed and defensive contributions, but not the stuff of a superstar in the making. In 56 games through the end of May, Merrill had a .360 slugging percentage with just eight extra-base hits. Since the start of June, he’s slashing .312/.346/.649 with seven homers.
Winn reacts after he scored against the Colorado Rockies during the first inning at Busch Stadium. / Jeff Curry-USA TODAY SportsThe athletic Winn teased some power with 18 home runs in 105 Triple A games last year, earning a brief call-up toward the end of the season. That type of output hasn’t arrived in full quite yet, but the 22-year-old is starting to look much more comfortable at the plate.
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