Eric Mercado

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Born November 2, 1985

Biographical Information

Eric Mercado played in the Elitserien and for the Swedish national team.

The first season for which Elitserien stats are available online is 2003; Mercado was 17 so it very possibly was his first season. He hit .246/.289/.315 for the Sundbyberg Heat and fielded .919 as their starting second baseman; Sundbyberg won the title. In 2004, he batted .276/.378/.308 and fielded .921 at SS; only Petter Diurlin was better among qualifying Elitserien shortstops that year. He also stole 14 bases in 15 tries, tied for second in the loop in swipes. In 2005, he fielded .918 at SS (2nd, .007 behind Elias Sölveling) and stole 8 bases without being caught but his batting line fell to .206/.373/.224.

He played for Sweden in the 2005 European Championship, going 0 for 5 with 3 walks, a steal and two runs, fielding .800. He backed up Diurlin at 2B and Rickard Reimer at SS. He was 2 for 11 with two runs in the 2005 Baseball World Cup but was better with the glove, handling 20 chances error-free. He again backed up Diurlin at second and Reimer at short.

For the 2006 Heat, his offense picked up a lot (.320/.473/.410) and he stole 17 bases in 19 tries, though he fielded .827 at short with 23 errors in 27 games. Sundbyberg won its second title. He was 7th in OBP (between Magnus Pilegård and Mats Jones), 4th in steals (between Peter Johannessen and Pilegård), tied Riemer for third in runs and led shortstops in errors (almost as many as the next two combined).

Mercado was at .291/.394/.358 in 2007, but his fielding returned to .908 at SS, second in the league. In 2008, he lost his starting job to Johan Jansson but had a solid season (.333/.547/.444) as a backup. The next year, he was 8 for 14 with a double, triple and five walks. As a part-timer for the 2010 Heat, he hit .340/.450/.520. In 2013, he was 0 for 2. From 2003-2013, he had hit .288/.396/.364 while fielding .889.