Mercado optioned to Tribe's alternate site

CLEVELAND -- Indians outfielder Oscar Mercado made quite the first impression during a solid rookie season, but after his slow offensive start to his sophomore campaign this year, the team will be relying on Delino DeShields in center field for the immediate future.

The Tribe announced on its off-day on Monday that Mercado was optioned to its alternate training site in Lake County. In a corresponding move, the team activated catcher Roberto Pérez from the 10-day injured list.

In 115 games in 2019, Mercado slashed .269/.318/.443 with 15 homers and 54 RBIs, but through 45 at-bats in '20, the outfielder has hit .111 with a .278 OPS.

The Indians went five games without starting Mercado from Aug. 8 through Friday, as they attempted to work on his swing in the batting cages. After he started seeing better results in batting practice, Indians manager Terry Francona put Mercado back in the starting lineup on Saturday.

“Well, he had gotten himself into a rut,” Francona said prior to Saturday’s game. “And he felt like he was pulling off. So he kind of closed his stance, but then that made him pull off more. And I understand it. I mean, I've been through that. So we're trying to get him to kind of be more balanced, more even.”

As Mercado continues to work on his swing in Lake County, DeShields will assume the role of the Tribe’s regular center fielder. The team has been pleased with the production that DeShields has provided at the bottom of their order and will now be hoping Pérez will bring the same.

Pérez went on the injured list with a right shoulder strain on July 29 after hurting it on an awkward throw on Opening Day. Pérez remained in constant communication with the Tribe’s other catchers and wished he could’ve been at the games rather than watching on television as he recovered. But the second he knew that he was back to 100 percent, he couldn’t wait to get back to his big league team.

“I’m ready to go, man,” Pérez said. “I think those guys in Lake County, the training staff, they did a pretty good job. I started playing catch, and I knew when I was trying to extend, that extension throwing down to 90 feet, 120 feet -- that’s when I knew I was ready to go. There was no pain, there were no restrictions, so I was just feeling like myself and ready to come here and contribute to the team.”