Whit Merrifield

That the KC Royals, consistent achievers of more bad than good this season, imploded and blew a 6-0 seventh-inning lead at Colorado Sunday wasn’t especially surprising. The frame ended with the Royals behind, a position all too familiar to them this season. What was surprising, however, was that it...

Merrifield went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI in Sunday's 8-7 win over the Rockies. Merrifield hit a solo shot in the sixth inning and a sacrifice fly in the seventh. It's been a bounce-back week for the 33-year-old, who has hit safely in six straight games, going 10-for-27 (.370) with both of his home runs this season in that span. For the year, he's at a .183/.213/.252 slash line with 13 RBI, 13 runs scored and five stolen bases in 32 contests, though the recent uptick in hitting should be encouraging for fantasy managers who have been patient with him.

Merrifield went 1-for-4 with a run, an RBI and a stolen base in a loss to the Rockies on Saturday. Merrifield was slotted atop the order for the second straight game and extended his modest hitting streak to five contests with a third-inning single that plated a run. He subsequently stole second base and came around to score on a Salvador Perez long ball. Merrifield's average still sits at .173 on the season, but he's starting to round back into form, going 8-for-23 with a home run, five RBI, eight runs and two steals over his past five games.

Whit Merrifield hit his first homer of the season and scored four times, while Bobby Witt Jr. and Emmanuel Rivera knocked in three runs apiece.

The hands on hips said it all. Kansas City Royals two-time All-Star Whit Merrifield, mired in a painful offensive slump, poked a ball into center field off the end of the bat on Monday afternoon in Baltimore. It was hardly a rocket, but it appeared destined to find a patch...

Nicky Lopez and Whit Merrifield were Gold Glove candidates on the infield last season.

Merrifield went 1-for-3 with two RBI in Wednesday's 7-3 loss to the White Sox. Merrifield hit an RBI single in the sixth and tied the game at 3-3 with a sacrifice fly in the seventh. He's hit safely in three of the last four contests, but he's just 3-for-18 in that span. Manager Mike Matheny has shuffled his lineup a bit since Opening Day, with Merrifield now hitting second against right-handed pitchers, which could allow him a few more chances to generate RBI. He's slashing .136/.171/.167 with four RBI, two runs scored, three stolen bases and two doubles through 16 games.

Merrifield will start at second base and bat second in Wednesday's game against the White Sox. After going a collective 1-for-10 with six strikeouts at the dish while starting both of the past two games out of the leadoff spot while the Royals opposed left-handed pitchers, Merrifield will drop down a spot in the order with Chicago bringing a right-hander (Dylan Cease) to the hill. Though Merrifield doesn't appear in any jeopardy of dropping lower than second in the order, he's undoubtedly been a disappointment for fantasy managers who were banking on him being a stabilizer in the batting-average category. He's hitting just .127 heading into Wednesday's contest, but a .151 BABIP and a Statcast-measured .243 expected batting average suggest that Merrifield is due for some considerable correction in that category.

The clouds gathering above Whit Merrifield’s head became a little darker Sunday in Seattle. Merrifield, who lugged a dismal .136 average to Seattle Friday for the start of a three game series between the Mariners and his KC Royals, struck out four times Sunday afternoon in the club’s 12 inning, 5-4 loss to the Mariners. Coupled with the double he managed Saturday, a fifth-inning single allowed Merrifield to escape T-Mobile Park with that same .136 average.

In the young 2022 season, the Kansas City Royals have struggled to score runs. You don’t have to look hard to find out why: the team as a whole has the third-worst OPS (on base plus slugging percentage) in baseball. They also have the second-worst walk rate in baseball and the second-worst ISO (isolated slugging percentage) in baseball.

Merrifield went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a stolen base in Monday's 10-7 loss to the Guardians. Merrifield singled and swiped second in the first inning before collecting an RBI on a fourth-inning groundout. The speedy veteran was in a 1-for-12 slump to begin the season before Monday's multi-hit effort. He hasn't recorded a strikeout since punching out twice on Opening Day.