Cleveland Indians outfield plan after Eddie Rosario, Jordan Luplow trades

Oscar Mercado, OF, Cleveland Indians

After a breakout 2019 campaign, Oscar Mercado has just not been able to find his swing again. His 2020 season was rough, batting well below the Mendoza line, and while this year has shown improvement he’s still playing below what might be his level of expectations.

This season, Mercado has been slashing .226/.314/.371 for Cleveland and unfortunately his splits aren’t that much better. Over the last 28 days his average is only a bit higher at .239, but over the last 14 days it’s much lower at .192.

The upside for Mercado is his improvement with his glove. He’s been error-free for the last two seasons after having six in 2019 alone. While that’s good, a strong glove won’t be enough to stay on the major league roster given the other talent the organization has.

If he can start to improve his contact at the plate and find more base hits through the rest of the season, he has a shot. However, given the three players mentioned already and Josh Naylor’s eventual return, Mercado has an uphill climb if he wants to reclaim a starting spot in the Tribe’s outfield. The potential is there, he’s showcased it before, but the production has to be there as well and it just hasn’t been recently.