Sox option slumping Mercedes to Class AAA Charlotte

White Sox general manager Rick Hahn gave Yermin Mercedes some deserved credit on Friday.

"His early success, we're not sitting here where we're at in the standings right now without what Yermin did over the course of April," Hahn said.

Coming from out of nowhere and making the Sox's 26-man roster out of spring training, Mercedes set a major-league record by opening the season with 8 straight hits.

The rookie designated hitter didn't cool off much in the opening month, batting .415 with 5 home runs in April.

Mercedes hit .221 with 2 homers and 14 RBI in May and .159 with no home runs and 7 RBI in June.

Before the White Sox played the Tigers at Comerica Park, Mercedes was optioned to Class AAA Charlotte.

"When we spoke (Thursday) postgame, I think he was disappointed and a little bit surprised," Hahn said. "But in the end he understood what we were doing and why we had to do it. And he left the office, I think, fairly determined to go put his work in and be back here soon. Hopefully, he is able to have success down in Charlotte and again force the issue that he's a guy who's going to be able to help us in the second half."

Mercedes, who became an instant fan favorite, was 10-for-78 (.128) over his last 23 games.

"One of the benefits of experience of seeing a lot of young hitters when they come in and have early success, they're just not really ready for the adjustments that the league is going to make to them," Sox manager Tony La Russa said. "And it's gotten more sophisticated over the years. They watch tape on them and if they don't look good in an at-bat, somebody is noticing, right? They're going to see that.

"He had such a splash early on, he was hitting a lot of different pitches to a lot of different areas. I think he was convinced he had to hit for more power and just came off the ball."