'That one was special': Mervis mashes in winning Cubs debut

CHICAGO -- Matt Mervis' parents had just found a parking spot at BWI airport in Baltimore and were preparing to travel to Columbus, Ohio. That was where their son was scheduled to play this week with Triple-A Iowa.

Mervis then called his mom, Ellen.

"The phone rang. I see it's Matt," she said from the stands at Wrigley Field during the Cubs' 4-1 win over the Marlins on Friday afternoon. "And I knew."

Her mother's intuition was correct: Mervis was calling to let them know he had been promoted to the Cubs. It was a quick conversation -- the culmination of a life's worth of hard work, ups and downs and support, all packed into a few emotion-filled sentences -- and it set off a scramble. Ditch Columbus. Get to Chicago.

Mervis had to get going, and so did his parents. Jeff and Ellen had to cancel their flight and hotel plans. They found a new itinerary that meant driving to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va. During their drive, Mervis' dad pulled out his phone and snapped a photo of Nationals Park, where the Cubs had just played.

There will be plenty of photos of the moments that followed Friday: Mervis getting a standing ovation from the Wrigley Field crowd when his name was announced; the rookie pounding his hands together in celebration of his first career hit -- a loud RBI single in the eighth; Mervis' family and friends celebrating in the stands; his parents hugging, while the scoreboard operators hoisted the yellow "1" into its slot.

Mervis -- ranked No. 6 on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 prospects list for the Cubs -- received another rousing ovation as he jogged off the field after the eighth.

"I took a second to look up into the crowd and take that one in," said Mervis, who finished the day 1-for-4 at the plate. "I think I got chills. Teammates were going crazy. The crowd was going crazy. That one was special."

Cubs fans are no strangers to hyped prospects reaching the big leagues. This is, after all, a fan base that experienced the wave of can't-miss stars like Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Javier Báez and Kyle Schwarber climbing the organizational ladder fast, and then end a 108-year World Series drought.

Chicago's recent rebuild was a hard two-year reset, during which Mervis has rocketed onto the radar. He was an undrafted signee after the abbreviated 2020 Draft out of Duke, where he had to convince coaches and evaluators that his future was in a batter's box and not on a mound.

"Every once in a while," Mervis said, "I'd take a swing in-game and I would say, 'If I can just do that over and over again, I know what I can do as a hitter.' [I had] conviction in myself, that I would develop into a better player than I was at that time, and all I needed was some reps."

Mervis broke out last season, leading all of the Minor Leagues in RBIs (119) as he climbed through High-A, Double-A and Triple-A. He slugged 36 homers, hit 40 doubles, scored 92 runs and slashed .309/.379/.605 in 137 games. The first baseman also saw his walk and strikeout rates improve at each level.

"To hit velocity, to walk, to have contact and hit for power," Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner said, "it's pretty much everything you ask for from a hitter. By no means does he have to be perfect at this level. But if he just continues to resemble, in any form, what he's done for the last year-plus, then he's going to be a really valuable player."

The prospect's power exploits led to fans dubbing him "Mash Mervis," which can already be seen on plenty of T-shirts in and around Wrigley. Even his dad wore a "MASH 22" tee under one of his son's Arizona Fall League jerseys on Friday.

Mervis stormed out of the gates again this year, hitting .286/.402/.560 with six homers, seven doubles, 27 RBIs and nearly as many walks (18) as strikeouts (19) in 24 games with Triple-A Iowa. After Chicago's offense slowed down on the recent 1-6 road trip through Miami and Washington, the Cubs felt it was the right time to make the call.

"His track record last year was really strong," Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. "But I also don't want to put too much pressure on him. Certainly it is a lever to pull -- to bring him up to play a lot. But at the same time, we're not expecting him to carry the lineup or do anything other than what he can do."

Ian Happ powered the lineup with a two-run homer off hard-throwing Marlins righty Edward Cabrera, helping back a seven-inning gem from Cubs lefty Justin Steele. Mervis, batting in the seventh slot, showed what he can do in the eighth, when he pulled a 2-1 slider from lefty Tanner Scott into center at 111.2 mph.

Mervis' single was the hardest-hit ball of the game for either team, and was the fifth-hardest hit of the season by a Cubs batter.

"He hits it hard, for sure. Big, strong, young man," Cubs manager David Ross said. "That's a tough matchup, too. Some really good pitchers on the mound for him today. I liked the way he handled the moments. Didn't get outside of it."

After Mervis' hit, the Marlins relayed the baseball to the Cubs' dugout for safe keeping. The young first baseman smiled when asked if he had plans for the memento. He said it would be going to his dad.

"It's still sinking in," Jeff Mervis said of his son being in the big leagues. "His resilience through everything has been incredible."