A strange day yesterday as Yermin Mercedes seemingly announced his retirement from baseball on Instagram, scrubbing his feed of any White Sox related content in the process.  Mercedes posted an Instagram story earlier in the day, suggesting he was mulling over retirement, and then followed that up with a post last night, after being lifted for a pinch hitter in the sixth inning of Triple A Charlotte’s game, saying “it’s over” with a caption saying that he is walking away from baseball for a while.

The White Sox followed up with a statement saying they were aware of the post but had heard nothing from Mercedes directly and that he was still a part of the active roster in Charlotte.  In his post-game interview following last night’s loss to the Twins, manager Tony LaRussa said he had just heard about the drama and planned to reach out to Mercedes, who, he believes, still has a future in the big leagues.

After starting the season with eight consecutive hits and finishing April with a .415 average and a 1.113 OPS, Mercedes fell off considerably in May and June, posting a .196 average and a .536 OPS, prompting his demotion back to Charlotte.  With the emergence of Gavin Sheets and Jake Burger and the upcoming return of Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert from the injured list, there does not appear to be a path back to the major leagues, at lest in Chicago, for Mercedes.  That frustration may have lead to this seemingly rash decision.  I expect we will hear more over the days and weeks to come.