On Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, Whit Merrifield saw an 84 mph slider from reliever Jonathan Holder and lashed a solo homer over the short porch in right-center field.
Coming in a 6-2 victory, the blast was one of four homers hit by the Royals in the seventh and eighth innings. Yet when the debris had cleared, it represented one of the more intriguing developments in this 2017 season. One season after clubbing two homers in 81 games during a solid rookie campaign, Merrifield, a 6-foot, 195-pound second baseman, has cranked five homers in his first 29 games since returning from Class AAA Omaha.