Mercado optioned to Tribe's alternate site

CLEVELAND — Indians outfielder Oscar Mercado made quite the first impression during a solid rookie season, but after his slow offensive start to his sophomore campaign this year, the team will be relying on Delino DeShields in center field for the immediate future. The Tribe announced on its off-day on

CLEVELAND — Indians outfielder Oscar Mercado made quite the first impression during a solid rookie season, but after his slow offensive start to his sophomore campaign this year, the team will be relying on Delino DeShields in center field for the immediate future.

The Tribe announced on its off-day on Monday that Mercado was optioned to its alternate training site in Lake County. The team has yet to make a corresponding move to fill his spot on the 28-man roster.

In 115 games in 2019, Mercado slashed .269/.318/.443 with 15 homers and 54 RBIs, but through 45 at-bats in 2020, the outfielder has hit .111 with a .278 OPS.

The Indians went five games without starting Mercado from Aug. 8 through Friday, as they attempted to work on his swing in the batting cages. After he started seeing better results in batting practice, Indians manager Terry Francona put Mercado back in the starting lineup on Saturday.

“Well, he had gotten himself into a rut,” Francona said prior to Saturday’s game. “And he felt like he was pulling off. So he kind of closed his stance, but then that made him pull off more. And I understand it. I mean, I’ve been through that. So we’re trying to get him to kind of be more balanced, more even.”

Mercado went 0-for-3 on Saturday and finished out Sunday’s game as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning.