Merrifield energized the team with his speed and athleticism, quickly moving to the top of the order.
By mid-June, Merrifield had homered in consecutive games and his average stood at .330. Merrifield had secured the second-base job while also using his versatility to allow manager Ned Yost to plug and play him anywhere if needed.
But then, out of nowhere, Merrifield hit a rookie wall. On July 2, he was still hitting .315. Suddenly the hits stopped falling.
Merrifield sunk into a 5-for-45 slide. And in late July, Yost called him into his office to give him the bad news: Merrifield was being sent down to Omaha and top prospect Raul Mondesi would take his place.