Kevin Merrell, SS, Oakland Athletics

Not a great first impression from my April look; noticeably late to the fastball several times in several at-bats throughout, even in hitter’s counts; poor/emergency/catch-up swings even in 3-1 counts and fastball situations. Reactionary hitter who never really looked comfortable in the box; oppo contact with some tendency to bail out … Foot speed seemed average to slightly above; never got an up the line read, but had him going 6.59 from second to home (standing) to score on a single at one point … Didn’t get great first impression of his shortstop defense, either; slower reactions without much range, particularly to the backhand side. Half a step slow on a couple balls in the hole and didn’t overall cover a ton of ground; struggled to field and exchange efficiently when he did get there. Lots of footwork to clean up even on routine ground ball s at shortstop; choppy steps in path to grounders, major opportunity here to be more efficient with lower half. Immediately have to wonder about positional future, though don’t want to fully discount Kevin Merrell on the basis of just a couple games; it’ll bear watching the Oakland Athletics prospect quite a bit more throughout the summer.

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