Carolina Lhp Ryan Merritt Earns Indians Minor League Player Of The Week Honors
CLEVELAND, OH - The Cleveland Indians today announced that Single-A Advanced Carolina LHP RYAN MERRITT has been named Indians Minor League Player of the Week for April 21-27. The Indians Player of the Week Award recognizes an individual performance from within the Indians Player Development System and is announced each Tuesday through the end of the Minor League season.
Merritt, 22, allowed just one unearned run in a 7.0 inning complete game in the second game of a doubleheader for the Carolina Mudcats on Monday, April 21 vs. Frederick. Merritt scattered just 4 hits, registered 4 strikeouts and didn't walk a batter. The 6-foot, 165-pound southpaw has allowed just one earned one across 24.1 innings (4 starts) this season and holds the lowest ERA (0.37) and WHIP (0.82) in the Carolina League. On the season, opposing batters have gone just 14-85 (.165) against Merritt, as he has yet to allow more than 5 hits in a single outing this season. Dating back to his start on April 11 at Potomac, Merritt has logged 14.2 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.
Originally drafted by the Indians in the 16th round of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft, Merritt started a career-high 25 games between Lake County and Carolina in 2013. The McKinney, TX native allowed just 14 earned runs over his final 53.2 innings in 2013 and finished with the 4th best ERA (3.52) in the Indians Player Development System.