Kansas City Royals’ Whit Merrifield seeks to clarify remarks about being unvaccinated

Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield was the subject of scorn locally and nationally for his comments on the COVID-19 vaccine., but not because he didn’t get the shot.

Merrifield is one of 10 Royals players who are not with their teammates in Toronto for a four-game series against the Blue Jays. Canada requires people entering the country to be vaccinated; those 10 players have refused to get vaccinated.

But Merrifield said Wednesday he would consider being vaccinated in the future.

“(If) something happens and I happen to get on a team that has a chance to go play in Canada and the postseason, maybe that changes,” Merrifield said.

That remark, about possibly getting vaccinated if he was traded to a winning team, didn’t sit well with fans and others.

Merrifield reached out to KCSP (610 AM) on Thursday night to clarify his comments. The interview was played Friday morning, and Merifield reiterated his love for Kansas City and his team.

“The comment was meant to be a representation of how important the postseason is and really nothing more,” Merrifield said.

He added: “It makes me sick that it came out a different way.”

Merrifield said it was difficult to sleep Wednesday night when he saw his playoff comment was going viral and causing a backlash among fans.

“When I looked back (Wednesday) and read what I said, I instantly knew that what I had said didn’t come out anywhere like I wanted it to come out, like I was trying to say,” Merrifield told radio host Cody Tapp. “I wish I would have caught it in the moment. I could have corrected myself in the moment, but unfortunately it took me actually reading my quote, to see how it’s perceived.

“I just wanted to clarify that. And, really, what kept me up at night was were people thinking that I don’t love Kansas City, and I haven’t really loved every minute that I’ve been in Kansas City, that I don’t love my teammates.”

Merrifield added that he has a great relationship with the Royals’ front office (“They’re like family to me,” he said), as well as the the coaching staff and teammates.

Being perceived as not loving Kansas City was painful for Merrifield.

“I bought a house in Kansas City, he said. “The community is greatly important to me, and for my words to reflect anything besides that is something that is not OK with me, and I really feel like I need to clarify it.”

Merrifield reiterated his desire to play in the postseason for the first time and hoped it would be with his current teammates. But he also knows the business of baseball. He realizes that he could be traded and make the playoffs with another franchise.

After his comments went viral, Merrifield spoke with Royals general manager J.J. Picollo and Dayton Moore, the cliub’s president of baseball operations.

“I immediately reached out when I realized when I’d said. I’d be frustrated with myself too. I read the quote, and I wasn’t misquoted, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is not at all what I was trying to say,” Merrifield said. “And so I wanted to reach out. ... I wanted it to be known what I was trying to say.

“I told them if it came out like I have any ill will toward Kansas City that’s not at all what I was trying to get across. All I was trying to say was how important playoff baseball is to me.”

Merrifield explained his stance on not getting vaccinated.

“The vaccine thing has been very fluid decision-making for me, I’m not like a hard-line no vaccine. ... Our trainers will attest to that,” Merrifield said. “When they give me Advil and Tylenol for a bruise, I’ve always been one to resist it. I don’t really enjoy putting foreign things in my body. It’s not something that I’ve ever done.”

The biggest message Merrifield wanted to convey in the 20-minute conversation was his angst about how he was perceived as being unhappy with his current situation.

“I apologize if anybody ever thought that what I said was anything other than having love for Kansas City,” Merrifield said, “because I have nothing but a incredible amount of love for the city and the community.”