Whitley David Merrifield (born January 24, 1989) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

second baseman and

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

for the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Kansas City Royals. He is a two-time All-Star, and led the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

in stolen bases three times.

Amateur career

Merrifield graduated from

Davie County High School Davie County High School (DCHS) is a public high school in Mocksville, North Carolina, United States. Davie County High School is the sole traditional high school in the Davie County School System; it had an enrollment of 1,784 as of the 2013–201 ...

Mocksville, North Carolina Mocksville is a town in Davie County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 5,051 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Davie County. History Mocksville was incorporated as a town in 1839. The town was named for the original ow ...

. He enrolled at the University of South Carolina and played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

for the

South Carolina Gamecocks The South Carolina Gamecocks represent the University of South Carolina in the NCAA Division I. The University of South Carolina uses "Gamecocks" as its official nickname and mascot. While the men's teams were traditionally known as the Fighti ...

from 2008 to 2010. In 2008, he played collegiate summer baseball for the

Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox The Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox, or Y-D Red Sox, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Red Sox play thei ...

of the Cape Cod Baseball League, and in 2009 returned to the league to play with the

Chatham Anglers The Chatham Anglers, more commonly referred to as the Chatham A's and formerly the Chatham Athletics, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Chatham, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in t ...

. In the second game of the championship series at the 2010 College World Series, Merrifield hit a game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the 11th inning to give South Carolina the championship. In his three years at South Carolina, he played in 195 games and hit .329/.389/.489 with 27 home runs.

Professional career

Kansas City Royals

Merrifield was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the ninth round of the

2010 Major League Baseball draft The 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held on June 7–9, 2010 at the MLB Network Studios in Secaucus, New Jersey. First-round selections The draft order was determined based on the 2009 MLB standings, with the worst team pi ...

. He signed with the Royals and made his professional debut that season with the

Burlington Bees The Burlington Bees are a collegiate summer baseball team of the Prospect League. They are located in Burlington, Iowa, and have played their home games at Community Field since 1947. Founded in 1889, the Bees played in Minor League Baseball' ...

. In 47 games he hit .253/.317/.409 with five home runs and 26

RBIs A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

. In 2011, Merrifield played for the

Wilmington Blue Rocks The Wilmington Blue Rocks are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Wilmington, Delaware, and play their home games at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium. ...

where he batted .262 with five home runs and 36 RBIS. In 2012, with both Wilmington and the

Northwest Arkansas Naturals The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are a Minor League Baseball team based in Springdale, Arkansas. The team is a member of the Texas League, and serves as the Double-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. The Naturals play at Arvest Ballpark, whic ...

, he compiled a .258 batting average with nine home runs and 44 RBIs in 125 games between both teams. He spent 2013 with Northwest Arkansas where he batted .270/.319/.391 with three home runs and 43 RBIs in 94 games. Whit Merrifield on April 17, 2015

Merrifield returned to Northwest Arkansas to start 2014 and was promoted to the

Omaha Storm Chasers The Omaha Storm Chasers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. They are located in Papillion, Nebraska, a suburb southwest of Omaha, and play their home games at We ...

during the season. In 120 games between the two clubs, he slashed .319/.371/.470 with eight home runs and 49 RBIs. In 2015, Merrifield played for Omaha where he posted a .265 batting average with five home runs and 38 RBIs in 135 games. He returned to Omaha to start the 2016 season. Merrifield made his major league debut with the Kansas City Royals on May 18, 2016, instantly batting in the top third of the lineup and soon taking the starting second baseman job from

Omar Infante Omar Rafael Infante n-FAHN-tay(born December 26, 1981) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball second baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, Atlanta Braves, Miami ...

. His first Major League hit came off of David Price. On June 13, 2016, Whit hit both his first major league triple and home run against the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

. In early July 2016, a song and video tribute to Merrifield titled, "Cool Whit" went viral on YouTube and Facebook, receiving coverage on local Kansas City radio and TV news. "Cool Whit" T-shirts were also circulating amongst Royals fans. He was optioned back to Omaha in July and recalled in September. In 69 games for Omaha he batted .266 with eight home runs and 29 RBIs, and in 81 games for Kansas City he compiled a .283 batting average with two home runs, 29 RBIs, and 22 doubles. Merrifield began the 2017 season with Omaha, but was recalled in April after nine games and spent the remainder of the season with Kansas City. With the Royals, he hit .288 in 145 games with 19 home runs and 78 RBIs. He also led the American League with 34 stolen bases, the fewest total for a league leader since

Luis Aparicio Luis Ernesto Aparicio Montiel (born April 29, 1934), nicknamed "Little Louie", is a Venezuelan former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop from 1956 to 1973 for three American League (AL) teams, m ...

led the AL with 31 in 1962. In 2018, Merrifield hit .304/.367/.438 and led the majors in hits (192) and stolen bases (45). In 2019, he batted .302/.348/.463 and led the major leagues in games (162), at bats (681), singles (139), triples (10), and

line drive In the sports of baseball and softball, a batted ball is a pitch that has been contacted by the batter's bat. Batted balls are either fair or foul, and can be characterized as a fly ball, pop-up, line drive, or ground ball. In baseball, a fou ...

percentage (28.2%), while stealing 20 bases and leading the majors in caught stealing (10). Overall with the 2020 Kansas City Royals, Merrifield batted .282 with nine home runs and 30 RBIs in 60 games. In 2021, Merrifield hit .277/.317/.395 with 10 home runs and 74 RBIs. He tied for the MLB lead with 42 doubles, and led the American League with 40 steals. He also tied for the major league lead in sacrifice flies, with 12. On defense, he led all major league second basemen with 283 putouts, 103 double plays and a 4.77 range factor. He won a Fielding Bible Award for his defensive excellence. Merrifield played in a franchise-record 553 consecutive games for the Royals between June 2018 and July 2022.

Toronto Blue Jays

On August 2, 2022 Merrifield was traded to the

for Max Castillo and Samad Taylor. He was among ten Royals players who were in violation of Canada's COVID-19 vaccination requirement and unable to travel to Toronto for a four-game weekend series right before the All-Star break two weeks earlier in July. On August 4, 2022, Merrifield announced that he was now vaccinated and would be able to play in the team’s first game in Toronto since being acquired. In 2022 he batted .250/.298/.375 in 550 plate appearances, and was the only

qualified batter This is an alphabetical list of selected unofficial and specialized terms, phrases, and other jargon used in baseball, along with their definitions, including illustrative examples for many entries. ...

in the major leagues who was not hit by a pitch all year.

International career

On September 10, 2018, he was selected by the MLB All-Stars at

2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series The 2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series was the twelfth edition of the MLB Japan All-Star Series, a best-of-six series between an All-Star team from Major League Baseball (MLB) and for the second time in series history, the Japanese national team, Sam ...

Personal life

Merrifield is a Christian. Merrifield married his wife Jordan Michael on December 28, 2019. Merrifield's father, Bill, played college baseball for

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

, and spent six seasons in Minor League Baseball, primarily as a third baseman. In September 1987, Bill Merrifield was briefly on the active roster of the Pittsburgh Pirates, but was sent to the

Florida Instructional League The Florida Instructional League (FIL), sometimes known informally as "instructs", is an American professional baseball league. The league was founded in 1958. Young major league prospects hone their skills in the FIL, while experienced players may ...

without making an MLB appearance, rendering him a " phantom ballplayer".

References

External links

South Carolina Gamecocks bio
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Merrifield, Whit 1989 births Living people American League All-Stars American League stolen base champions Baseball players from North Carolina Burlington Bees players Chatham Anglers players Kansas City Royals players Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball left fielders Northwest Arkansas Naturals players Omaha Storm Chasers players People from Florence, South Carolina People from Mocksville, North Carolina South Carolina Gamecocks baseball players Surprise Saguaros players Toronto Blue Jays players Wilmington Blue Rocks players Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox players