Tampa Bay Rays: Based on his lineage, Patrick Meriño could be a keeper

Based on his family lineage, Tampa Bay Rays prospect Patrick Merino should be a promising player for the foreseeable future.

HIALEAH,FL– Patrick Merino signed with the Tampa Bay Rays on the 15th of June of 2019 for $375K and was assigned to the Dominican Summer League. In the league, the young slugger displayed an array of tools, the most noticeable one being his crushing power. In 29 games Meriño went yard eight times.

It was a great start to a career for a 21-year old that sure looks the part of a power hitter, the native of Santiago, Cuba is about 6’2 and weighs 225 lbs.

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Based on a great start to his career he should start the year at A-ball and projects to be a corner outfielder, “I will focus a lot my defense this season. This is something I want to improve in my game and I couldn’t focus much on it in the off-season due to my injury.”

The young prospect did show flashes of a potent arm during his incursion in DR. If we base it on genetics, Meriño has all the tools to succeed being the son of former Cuban National Team catcher Rolando Meriño.

I asked him based on his lineage if there was any pressure to succeed, “It is a fact that my father was a great player in Cuba. He was a legend in Cuba and that gives me great pride. But I don’t feel any pressure to succeed, only ambition to do so.”

During the off-season he was only able to work on certain things do to a hand injury, this restricted him to only work on the physical aspects of his game only, “I had to focus on mostly physical exercises. We did a lot of reaction, acceleration and timing exercises. We focused a lot on maintaining the explosiveness in my legs due to the fact that I was restricted in what I could do because of my hand injury.”

When I asked how his recovery is going he replied, “I’m still recuperating from the operation on the hamate bone in my left hand, but in two weeks I should be 100%.”

Although right now he’s a diamond in the rough Tampa Bay Rays prospect Patrick Merino has all the ability to succeed on is a player I will be watching closely this off-season.