A year ago, when the San Diego Padres decided to give their starting center fielder job to a 20-year-old rookie who hadn’t played a single inning at the position as a professional, Jackson Merrill’s MLB debut came and went without much fanfare.
An 0-for-3 showing at the plate with four putouts in the field rendered him a footnote in a 5–2 Padres defeat to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Seoul. Few could have predicted the breakout from Merrill that was about to unfold—and how fitting his relative anonymity on that day would be for the narrative of the season.
What Merrill accomplished in 2024—24 home runs, 16 stolen bases with 90 RBIs and a 127 OPS+ in 156 games—was a rookie season for the ages, one worthy of discussion and hardware. And in any other season, he would have received both. But 2024 was the Year of Paul Skenes, which meant that Merrill’s time in the spotlight was minimal compared to what it could have been without Skenes’s mastery.
Now, though, none of that matters. Rookie of the Year or not, Merrill is no longer just a name at the bottom of the lineup card. He’s one of the faces of a Padres team that took the eventual World Series champions to the brink last October, and he’s ready for a second act that will be impossible for those watching to miss.
“It just went by really fast. It was really fun—a lot of emotion, a lot of tension,” Merrill says of his rookie season. “But we’re here in Year 2, Year 1 is behind us, so I’ve got to focus on the present.”
In the present, Merrill will be counted on, along with veterans like Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr., to be one of the club’s most productive regulars. And after how quickly he proved himself at the big-league level, the feeling that the sky is the limit for Merrill is well-earned.
Consider that Merrill was drafted and came up through the minors as a shortstop, playing just five games in the outfield (all in left field). He had only appeared in 46 games above High A before he earned the call-up to the majors. Then, all while being tasked to learn a new position on the fly in the most challenging environment possible, Merrill put himself in the company of some of the best players of all time.
Over the past century, only four center fielders age 21 or younger have posted 5-fWAR rookie seasons: Merrill, Joe DiMaggio, Julio Rodríguez and Mike Trout. They’re also the only four to hit at least 24 home runs, and DiMaggio is the only one to have more RBIs than Merrill.
So it’s rarified air that Merrill is walking as he enters his second season. Luckily for him, there’s more than one player in the Padres clubhouse who can relate to what he’s going through in experiencing so much success so soon.
One of those teammates is outfielder Jason Heyward, signed in February on a one-year deal. Fifteen years ago, it was Heyward who was the much-hyped 20-year-old rookie when he debuted for the Atlanta Braves on Opening Day 2010. His arrival to the majors was met with such fanfare that, on the day of his first career game, the team chose him to catch the ceremonial first pitch from Hank Aaron. Less than an hour later, Heyward crushed a home run to right field on his first swing as a big-leaguer.
In his first spring with San Diego, Heyward is still getting to know his new teammates and surroundings. But he knows from experience what a whirlwind Merrill’s life has become over the past year, and how succeeding in the majors so quickly (like Merrill, Heyward also was a rookie All-Star) can make the task of playing in the big leagues even more difficult.
“The challenging part is the amount of attention you get, the amount of people that want to talk to you, the amount of things that may take you away from what your goal is every day, and that’s just to be the best version of yourself,” Heyward says. “Figuring out what that balance looks like for you, being comfortable saying yes to things you want to say yes to, saying no to things you want to say no to, and just being able to identify that quickly and not look back. It’s not easy.”
And it’s not just Heyward that Merrill shares early career success with. Machado made the All-Star team and won a Gold Glove as a 20-year-old rookie; Tatis debuted at 20 and hit 22 homers, then had two top-four MVP finishes the next two seasons; and Xander Bogaerts was also 20 when he debuted for the Boston Red Sox in 2013, and ended up starting all six games of the team’s World Series victory.
When asked for areas he’d like to improve on in 2025, Merrill paused for a bit, then was short on suggestions: “Maybe walk a little more,” is the most straightforward he offered. But if his response and stat line indicate that his first year was easy, he insisted that wasn’t the case.
“It was different,” Merrill says of life in the major leagues. “It’s for sure different … I had to just go through it. Nothing’s gonna get you ready for it besides doing it. Now, [having been] through it once, I’m ready to go again.”
Padres manager Mike Shildt offered glowing praise for his young star’s approach to the game and even-keeled nature after his historic rookie season.
“Jackson’s very smart, he’s conscientious, he’s hard-working, he’s driven, but he’s also present. Jackson’s had success, and he enjoys his success, but the game is hard,” Shildt says. “He’s able to slow the game down and kind of see where he’s at and how to make any adjustments, whether it’s in an at-bat or over the course of the day. He’s just a very grounded young man that has a lot of talent and is very mature.”
His physical gifts and skill set immediately stood out as big-league ready. Merrill had the 17th-highest expected wOBA (.372) among all qualified hitters, per Statcast, and the seventh-best expected batting average (.303). His arm strength and average sprint speed each ranked in the 81st percentile or higher, and his strikeout rate (17%) was well below the league average (22.6%).
Merrill also broke through the proverbial rookie wall with flying colors: after making the All-Star team, his second-half OPS (.945) dwarfed his first-half mark (.745). That type of consistency is something he credits to his mental toughness.
“Just stay calm. Just because you had a bad game, doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong,” Merrill says. “You might just be a little bit late, swing might be a little off, you could just be tired. Don't think too much, just go out there and play baseball.”
Perhaps more people will pay attention to Merrill during his second season in the bigs. If that attention does come, or if he experiences a sophomore slump, the 21-year-old has plenty of teammates he can look to for advice who know the perils of being a young star.
