When the Cleveland Indians eventually call up Oscar Mercado from the nearby Columbus Clippers, it will his latest stop on a road well-traveled. Born in Cartagena, Colombia in the winter of 1994, Mercado moved to the United States as a youth. His family settled in the Tampa Bay area where he was a standout at Gaither High School. The prep shortstop committed to Florida State but, after being selected as the No. 57 pick in the 2013 draft by the St. Louis Cardinals, a seven-figure signing bonus lured him away from the Seminoles and into the professional ranks.
At the time of the draft, Mercado was projected to be a slick-fielding shortstop with a long-term outlook at the position. The question was whether or not he would be able to hit enough to be a regular starter. As it turns out, he initially struggled with both his glove and his bat.
From 2014-2016, Mercado toiled in the lower levels of the Cardinals system. Entering 2017, he was a .229 hitter. Power was not a big part of his game, but he had just eight home runs in 1,479 plate appearances. Speed, however, was his calling card. To his credit, he was able to swipe 121 bases. However, he was also thrown out 50 times. A 71 percent steals percentage is not the calling card of an elite baserunner.
Defensively, Mercado had both the range and the arm for the left side of the diamond. Even so, the errors piled up in huge numbers. True, errors are subjective, and there are better metrics at the major league level, but a .908 fielding percentage for a shortstop at any level of play is simply not going to work. He made 70 errors in 187 games at the six-spot between 2015 and 2016 alone. The errors and poor baserunning told me one thing: Mercado was struggling with the transition from being an athlete to becoming a baseball player. It is no different than a pitcher learning how to pitch instead of throw.
In an effort to maximize his athleticism, Mercado would have to make a major move again. This time, I'm talking about his position on the diamond, with the Cardinals moving him to center field. The shift from dirt to grass signified not only a visual change, but a change in all-around production.
As a full-time outfielder in 2017, Mercado moved to Double-A. Long-time readers know that I consider this level to be the most important in terms of a player's development. Mercado hit .287/.341/.428 with 13 home runs. Yes, he did strike out more, but the shift in offensive production at an advanced level was worth the change in approach. Learning the outfield full-time on the fly, he made just six errors in 270 chances.
Although he successfully swiped 38 bases in 2017, he was still thrown out 19 times. The progression from athlete to ballplayer was moving along, but still not complete. Mercado got off to a strong start again in 2018. The Cardinals promoted him to Triple-A Memphis where he hit .285/.351/.408 in 100 games. He had five errors in 225 chances. Once more, he was a stolen base threat and pulled off 31 successful heists. More importantly, he was only caught eight times.
Finally feeling comfortable in his new home, Mercado would be uprooted once again. In a prospect-for-prospect swap, the Cardinals traded him to the Indians in July. Mercado struggled in limited action with Columbus to end the season, but entered 2019 with a chance to impress in spring training and a very beatable depth chart in front of him. Mercado even took it upon himself to travel to Cleveland from Tampa in the winter(!) twice (!!) to participate in hitting camps. His work did not go unnoticed.
In his first big league camp with the Indians, Mercado hit .400/.415/.750 with seven extra-base hits in 40 at-bats. Curiously, the hot spring was not enough for him to head north with the major-league team so Mercado returned to Columbus to start the 2019 campaign. Entering play on Wednesday, Mercado is hitting .288/.392/.477. He has 14 extra-base hits in 27 games and has been successful on 14-of-17 stolen base attempts. He has made one error in 223 innings across all three outfield spots. Simply put, he looks ready.
Mercado is now an athletic baseball player with plus-speed, a plus-glove in center field, and he is developing power to the point where I believe he can hit 18-20 home runs in a season. Not only do I think Mercado is ready for the show now, but there is also still a need in the Cleveland outfield. As a group, Indians outfielders are hitting .226/.293/.336 in 503 plate appearances. They have also been a net-negative on defense, according to Fangraphs.com.
So what is Cleveland waiting for? Your guess is as good as mine. We are well past the point of the season where Mercado can accrue a full season's worth of service time. With that in mind, the only manipulative deadline is in regards to "Super 2" arbitration status. That may be a consideration, but it's a relatively weak one since Mercado, while projected to be a quality player, does not appear to be the type to break salary records like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Fernando Tatis Jr.
There could well be an honest issue in terms of development. Perhaps there is a checklist on which Mercado is still missing a few boxes. Personally, I do not see Mercado getting much better than his present-day version by spending more time on Columbus facing the Odrisamer Despaigne's of the International League, but I'm not the one tasked with making this decision.
When Mercado does eventually get the call, you should embrace his relative obscurity. He was a fringe top-100 prospect to start the year and, outside of this circle, he has not really been talked up much. As I said before, he is not an uber-prospect, but the marriage of talent and opportunity warrant more than a cursory glance -- and perhaps even a new home on your fantasy roster.