It’s sort of superb that, in a 12 months with such a lot of big-time breakouts in the Chicago Cubs farm machine, lets’ve pegged the minor league participant and pitcher of the 12 months ahead of these days. We all knew it was once going to be Matt Mervis and Luis Devers. That’s to not say there weren’t REALLY GREAT different performances on the farm this 12 months. Performances that may have, in different seasons, in point of fact been in attention for those honors. It’s simply that Mervis and Devers have been so very ridiculous.
So, yeah, positive sufficient: they’re the two. Very, very genuinely-earned awards for Mervis and Devers:
From the reliable staff unencumber:
The Chicago Cubs these days named infielder Matt Mervis the Buck O’Neil Cubs Minor League Player of the Year and right-handed pitcher Luis Devers the Vedie Himsl Cubs Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
Mervis, 24, hit .309 (158-for-512) with 40 doubles, two triples, 36 house runs, 119 RBI and 50 walks, contributing to a .379 on-base share, .606 slugging share and a .984 OPS in 137 video games between High-A South Bend, Double-A Tennessee and Triple-A Iowa this season. The left-handed hitting infielder led minor league baseball in RBI and tallied the maximum RBI through any minor leaguer in a season since Mason Martin recorded 129 in 2019. Mervis’ 36 house runs have been the maximum through a Cubs minor leaguer in a season since Kris Bryant’s 43 in 2014.
The six-foot, four-inch Mervis started the 2022 marketing campaign through hitting .350 (35-for-100) with 9 doubles, seven house runs, 29 RBI and a 1.039 OPS in 27 video games for South Bend. He was once named Midwest League Player of the Week for the week of May 9-15 after he hit .571 (12-for-21) with 4 doubles, two house runs and six RBI in 5 video games, together with four-straight multi-hit efforts from May 10-13.
Following his promotion to Tennessee on May 17, Mervis hit .301 (61-for-203) with 16 doubles, one triple, 14 house runs and 51 RBI in 53 video games with the Smokies, ahead of finishing the marketing campaign batting .297 (62-for-209) with 15 doubles, one triple, 15 house runs and 39 RBI in 57 video games with the I-Cubs. The Washington, D.C., local was once named the Cubs’ Minor League Player of the Month for August and tallied an 11-game hitting streak from August 18-Sept. 4, together with a three-game house run streak from Sept. 1-4.
All instructed, Mervis has performed 210 profession minor league video games in two seasons, batting .275 (212-for-771) with 52 doubles, 3 triples, 45 house runs, 163 RBI and an .881 OPS. Mervis graduated from Georgetown Preparatory School in Maryland and performed 4 seasons at Duke University ahead of signing with the Cubs as an undrafted loose agent in 2020.
Devers, 22, went 13-3 with a 1.91 ERA (25 ER/117.2 IP), 122 strikeouts and a nil.95 WHIP, whilst keeping fighters to a .206 moderate (86-for-417) in 26 video games (22 begins) for Low-A Myrtle Beach and South Bend. The righthander finished no less than 5.0 innings in 18 of his begins and allowed two or fewer runs in 22 outings. He started the 2022 marketing campaign through going 9-3 with a 2.58 ERA (19 ER/66.1 IP) in 15 video games (14 begins) with Myrtle Beach, ahead of going 4-0 with a 1.05 ERA (6 ER/51.1 IP) in 11 video games (8 begins) with South Bend, serving to the membership to a Midwest League name.
The six-foot, three-inch Devers was once named the Cubs Minor League Pitcher of the Month for May after he went 4-1 with a 1.48 ERA (4 ER/24.1 IP), 28 strikeouts and a nil.90 WHIP in 5 begins. His 13 wins have been the maximum amongst Cubs minor leaguers and tied for the third-most in minor league baseball, whilst his 1.91 ERA was once the second-lowest amongst minor leaguers with no less than 20 begins this season.
A Samaná, D.R., local, Devers owns a profession 20-17 file with a 2.53 ERA (82 ER/291.2 IP) with 290 strikeouts in 68 minor league video games (60 begins) in portions of 5 skilled seasons, all with the Cubs group. Devers signed with the Cubs as a non-drafted loose agent, July 20, 2017.