Hitting streaks are one of the hardest streaks in all of baseball to continuously maintain. Kansas City Royals infielder Whit Merrifield saw his hit streak come to an end last night, and chances are you didn’t even know he had one.
Whit Merrifield came into his game on April 11, 2019 with two things on his mind: get the Kansas City Royals a win and get just one hit in this game. Sadly, both of these goals did not come to fruition.
Merrifield entered the game against the Seattle Mariners with a 31 game hit streak, a mark that carried over from the end of last season. While he is known for his speed and stolen bases, his ability to hit for contact and power is making Merrifield a dangerous player every time he steps in the batters box.
— Whit Merrifield (@WhitMerrifield) April 11, 2019
By the end of the 10th inning, Whit Merrifield would end the game 0 for 6 with two strikeouts, one of them being the save resulting in the loss. The Mariners had done what previous teams (even themselves) had failed to do 31 games ago; keep Merrifield from getting just one hit, whether it was a squeeze bunt, a single, or an extra base hit.
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Now unless you are a Kansas City Royals fan, there is a good chance that you had no idea Whit Merrifield even had a hitting streak. He received barely any media attention or any coverage in his conquest to catch Joe Dimaggio at 56 games.
This is also coming off the heals of Whit setting the longest consecutive hitting record for the Kansas City Royals franchise, ousting fan favourite George Brett. He would only hit a measly 30 game hit streak.
This is a bit unfortunate given how strikeouts are becoming more common in baseball and how difficult it is to get a hit in a game where failure at the plate is a norm. If a player gets a hit 3 times out of every 10 times he steps in the box, he will most likely book a ticket to Cooperstown. Whit was able to succeed 31 games in a row, getting 4-6 chances against elite level pitchers every night.
Here is to you Whit Merrifield. Your new streak starts tomorrow. I hope it gets covered a lot more than it did the first time.