On May 17, 2021, the White Sox were blowing out the Minnesota Twins 16-4 in the 9th inning. The Twins put a position player on the mound, and Mercedes swung on a 3-0 pitch, hitting a massive home run.
The Backlash:
This drew the ire of his old-school manager, Tony La Russa, who stated Mercedes made a "big mistake" by breaking baseball's unwritten rule against running up the score.
The Repercussions:
The public reprimand created clubhouse friction, and Mercedes experienced a severe hitting slump immediately afterward, with his batting average plummeting from .415 down to .271 by early July.







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