Left-handed power a gift to Mervis from his older brother
A pivotal moment in Matt Mervis' rise to the major leagues happened before he was old enough to remember.
His older brother Dylan, while playing whiffle ball in the family's backyard in Potomac. Maryland, made certain Matt would be a left-handed hitter.
"I don't remember much, just the stories from my parents," Mervis said. "From what I've been told, if I picked up a bat right-handed, I wouldn't get a pitch. He would wait until I flipped around left-handed and then he would throw."
Did Dylan Mervis, 2½ years older than Matt, have an eye on the future, knowing the value of a left-handed power bat?
"As much as I'd like to say that, as an 8-year-old, I probably didn't have that foresight," Dylan said with a laugh. "I just wouldn't play with him unless he hit left-handed because that's how I was. That simple, just a stubborn kid. Wouldn't play with his little brother unless he did it my way."
Both the Mervis brothers throw right-handed and bat left-handed, which is a bit unusual. Matt Mervis was primarily a pitcher during his first two years of college at Duke.
But he honed his hitting skills from an early age in both the front and backyards with his brother.
"We had kind of a sloped driveway," Matt said. "We would take one of those big Mark McGwire slugger bats and try to hit the ball over the roof. It was my earliest baseball memory and a lot of fun."
"We would sit down there and bash tennis balls at the house from the bottom of the driveway," Dylan added. "That was the go-to game for a while, then we kind of shifted toward the backyard at some point."
Matt Mervis made his Cubs debut last Friday against Miami at Wrigley Field. He was named the Cubs' 2022 minor league player of the year after hitting .309 with 36 home runs and 119 RBI across three levels. Needless to say, his debut was highly anticipated by Cubs fans.
The majors have been an adjustment so far. He started out 4-for-10 at the plate, then has gone 0-for-11 heading into Friday's game at Minnesota. One huge positive is Mervis has been flawless defensively at first base during his first week in the majors.
While his older brother gave up baseball in middle school, Matt said his dream has been to play in the major leagues for as long as he can remember.
"I was always maybe 80 percentile size and I was good at baseball," Dylan said. "Matt was always off-the-chart size and always the best player on the team. He was excellent from a young age, just a natural. Big guy that had great hands and really, really hated getting out."
Matt was one of those kids who had to be moved to a higher level for safety reasons. He lasted one day in T-ball, according to his parents, two lawyers with no background in baseball.
"He had like one swing in T-ball and they said, 'He's got to go,'" said his father, Jeff. "He's always been a power hitter."
"The coach said, 'He's going to hurt somebody,' and that was at 5 years old," mother Ellen added. "When Matt came up to bat (in his younger days), all of the sudden it got quiet."
The whole family made it to Wrigley Field for Matt's debut, along with several friends. Naturally, they took a victory lap around Wrigleyville after the games.
"I know my parents got a lot of love on the broadcast and social media," Matt said. "My immediate family, aunts and uncles, probably 10 friends came in from high school and college. So it was a ton of fun, celebrating with everybody."
"Matt came and met us at Murphy's (Bleachers) after the second game, which was awesome," Dylan said. "Great atmosphere, friendly people. It was awesome being part of the culture. Matt stopped and took some pictures. I guess my dad, thinking he's the mayor, stopped and took some pictures as well."
The best part of the Mervis whiffle ball history is they'll still go out and play in the backyard if everyone is home.
"I'm still the king of backyard baseball," Dylan claimed. "Even today we'll go play in the backyard. I still to this day think I'll win, but that's because we have these whiffle balls and I'm throwing curveballs that are dropping and rising and floating all over. He doesn't care, Matt just throws me pitches down the middle.
"I brought a girlfriend home and she was playing, my sister's playing. It's a whole family thing. Can't use Mark McGwire anymore, because that would hurt somebody."
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