Second baseman Whit Merrifield and the Kansas City Royals have agreed to a four-year contract extension worth $16.25 million total, a source told ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
Merrifield led the American League last season in both hits (192) and stolen bases (45), while batting .304 with 12 home runs and 60 RBIs.
The deal for Merrifield, who turned 30 last week, buys out his last pre-arbitration year as well as three years of arbitration.
He has a career batting average of .293 in parts of three seasons, and also led the AL in stolen bases in 2017 with 34.
Merrifield made just six errors last season at second base, his primary position, while also seeing time at first and the outfield.
This article was originally published by Espn.com. Read the original article here.