Matt Mervis struggled at the plate during his initial call-up, batting .167 with a 47 wRC+ and three homers in 99 plate appearances. While the underlying batted-ball data signaled an imminent breakout, the Cubs didn’t feel they had time to wait on the first baseman’s production to catch up. Part of that was about getting him back to Iowa to rebuild his confidence and tighten up his approach, something he appears to have done.
In 80 PAs since being sent down, Mervis is batting .308 with a .976 OPS and three homers, plus he’s walking at a 15% clip while striking out 20% of the time.