In his age-33 season, Whit Merrifield is putting together career-worsts all around the field for the Kansas City Royals. His bat has regre sed a lot, his fielding has taken a hit after last year and he isn't as proficient on the basepaths as he once was. Everyone has heard Rex Hudler talk about how Merrifield has been unlucky all year at the plate, but that isn't the story here. Let's look into why he's struggled mightily at the plate.To start, here is Merrifield's slash line on the year: .237/.289/.339 with an OPS of .628. That isn't good for any hitter, let alone a leadoff man. To further the fac, that he isn't ideal in that leadoff <a href="
https://www.clindiansshop.com/cleveland-indians/satchel-paige-jersey">Satchel Paige Jersey</a> role, Merrifield is walking just 7.4% of the time. For him, however, that isn't terrible. The only thing he does well as a "leadoff" hitter is not strikeout, as his K% is 14.6. What's the key to his regre sion? Is it <a href="
https://www.clindiansshop.com/hoodie">Cleveland Indians Hoodie</a> Merrifield's approach, or is it something else?Looking at for Merrifield this year, it doesn't show a big enough difference from last year to this year to explain his poor season. The same goes for his , even with an uptick in solid hit%. His hard-hit% is low (30.2%) but it's normal for him to not hit the ball hard at a good rate. Even the expected stats, xBA and xSLG, are the same as last year. Where exactly did Merrifield regre s, then?The main culprit is . This year, Merrifield hasn't hit anything particularly well. Against fastballs, he is posting a .249 average while not hitting for any power, either (.391 SLG). He hasn't hit offspeed or breaking stuff well at all, hitting .248 against breaking balls and .171 against offspeed offerings while having SLG below .305.Scroll to ContinueMerrifield doesn't hit anything well according to run values. He is around minus-1 or neutral on everything except four-seam fastballs and sinkers. Both of these have run values of minus-4. Merrifield has either struggled or excelled against 4-seamers in his career a career-high run value of 13 and a career-low of minus-7 but the i sue is that he's struggling with the sinker. He has always been able to hit sinkers in his career, always having a run value of at least four and po se sing seasons of 11 and 17. This may be due to Merrifield's horrendous start, though, so let's look at his monthly splits.Merrifield had one of the worst Aprils a player could <a href="
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