The Chicago White Sox are on top of the AL Central by a huge margin, but that margin is no where quite as huge as the news the team received on Wednesday night.
Tony La Russa’s ball club saw Yermin Mercedes post a cryptic message on his instagram that read “El Retiro” with a thinking emoji. That began what ended up being hysteria across White Sox social media.
Fans all across the baseball world began wondering if that meant what they thought it meant: could Yermin Mercedes actually be retiring?
Hours later, Mercedes went on Instagram yet again and, this time, confirmed the news we all wondered about.
Confirming suspicions, Chicago White Sox youngster Yermin Mercedes announced his retirement on his Instagram Wednesday night.
Mercedes’ post on Instagram roughly translates:
“First of all I want to thank God for giving me life to the fans that without them I was nothing to my family for understanding me and always supporting …”
His post goes on to say, “…to all the teams I participated by not tolerating the decisions of them to everyone who as a human being eh failed I apologize and thus walk away from baseball for a while God bless you it’s over.”
Fans will remember that Mercedes started the 2021 MLB season on a hot streak. In fact, in his first six games, he came up with 15 hits, including three doubles and two home runs. At the end of April, Mercedes was slashing .415/.455/.659.
Then, in the middle of May, things changed for the worse. Late in a blowout win against the Minnesota Twins, Mercedes swung on a 3-0 pitch, with the bases loaded, and launched that thing out of the park.
After the game, La Russa called Mercedes’ decision to swing a “big mistake.” However, not everyone was thrilled with La Russa’s opinion on the matter. Even teammate Tim Anderson supported Mercedes and told him to “keep being you,” citing that “the game wasn’t over.”
Since that moment, Mercedes has been in a downward trend. He had gone through what seemed like a never-ending slump before being demoted July 2 in favor of Jake Burger.
The 28-year-old’s career was just launching. It had only just begun, and though he had endured a tough stretch this season, there is no doubt in fans’ minds he would have eventually turned things around.
Is Tony La Russa to blame for this odd and shocking retirement? Did his comments start the snowball effect which eventually led to Mercedes calling it quits? Many will start pointing the finger, however if Mercedes truly retired in part because of La Russa, maybe he wasn’t cut out for the Majors to begin with.