The home runs have arrived in bunches, eating into the relative anonymity that Jackson Merrill has enjoyed while settling into his new home in San Diego.
Take, for instance, a fan’s shout that interrupted a recent walk en route to an evening showing of “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.”
“Jackson Merrill! Rookie of the Year!”
The Padres’ 21-year-old center fielder acknowledged the fan with a meek wave of his hand. He certainly appreciates the support, but Merrill also has made himself perfectly clear on the subject.
“I couldn’t care less about any Rookie of the Year voting or All-Star voting,” he said.
“I care about our team right here. I care about winning.”
Thing is, one certainly has quite a bit to do with the other.
Merrill’s evolution has arrived as the Padres’ bumps and bruises continue to mount. Manny Machado has been whipping his elbow into shape following offseason surgery. Jurickson Profar has been playing through left patellar tendinitis. Xander Bogaerts has been out since May 20 with a fractured left shoulder. Luis Campusano is on the injured list with a bruised thumb. Now Fernando Tatis Jr. is without a timetable altogether after doctors discovered a stress reaction in his right leg.
It is against that backdrop that Merrill has rattled off seven homers and a .329/.364/.685 batting line over his last 20 games — a stretch in which he’s asserted himself as a National League Rookie of the Year candidate while helping the Padres go 12-8 to remain in possession of a wild-card spot.
Significant hurdles remain if Merrill is going to join Benito Santiago (1987) as the organization’s lone Rookie of the Year (Butch Metzger shared the award with Pat Zachry in 1976). The biggest obstacle to clear is likely Paul Skenes, the Pirates’ up-and-coming ace with celebrity status — he’s dating LSU gymnast/social media star Livvy Dunne — and a 101-mph fastball that’s helped him breeze through his first eight big-league starts.
The Cubs’ Shota Imanaga, the Dodgers’ Gavin Stone and the Brewers’ Joey Ortiz are also off to strong starts that rival Merrill’s, one that has made him one of the NL’s most productive outfielders this season regardless of tenure. Before he was injured, the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto had posted a 6-2 record with an ERA of 2.92.
While Merrill did not advance to the final phase of All-Star balloting, he carries a 2.0 WAR, according to Fangraphs.com. The only outfielders who have been more valuable than Merrill are Profar (2.8), Tatis (2.5) and the Mets’ Brandon Nimmo (2.3).
“He just continues to play the game,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “He stays within himself, takes what the game gives him, sees it real well, has an approach with the talent to match and now you’re seeing it just continue to get more consistent.”
The timeliness of it all has been especially critical.
On Monday, Merrill ripped a two-run single as the Padres rallied to overcome a three-run deficit and win in the 10th inning. Two days before that, his massive, 440-foot homer to center set the tone in a win in which both Profar and Tatis were held out with injuries. It was his seventh blast in a 10-day span that began with the first two-homer game of his career.
The last of those two home runs was his first walk-off shot.
It’s a surge that teammates have seen the young Merrill building toward since he forced his way onto the roster as the second-youngest player in the majors on opening day.
“Him and I have talked about it a lot,” second baseman Jake Cronenworth said. “I know he’s got top power and I’ve talked to him, like, ‘Dude, you’ve got the ability to change the game at any point in time. When you’re comfortable and starting to do that, you’re going to be a dangerous hitter at the plate.’
“It’s good to see him develop into who he can actually be as a player.”
Merrill explained over the weekend that he’s beginning to take his shots at the plate. Cronenworth laughed when asked when it happened for him.
Maybe at 28 years old, Cronenworth said, when he was on his way to a second All-Star invite.
At age 21, Cronenworth was still an infielder who closed games at the University of Michigan — not helping an injury-plagued big-league team win games.
Yet whatever pressure that might come with such responsibility seems to slide off Merrill’s back.
“I don’t think there’s anything to be pressured about,” Merrill said. “It’s baseball. It’s a game. You just play. You do your best, try to have as much fun as possible. Life will play itself out. I’m not going to try harder and stress myself out about it. I’m here to play a game and have fun and try to win.
“I’m going to leave it as simple as that.”
NL Rookie of the Year race
A look at the top NL rookies by way of WAR, as calculated by Fangraphs.com:
2.6 | Brewers INF Joey Ortiz (7 HRs, 5 steals, .275/.380/.455)
2.1 | Dodgers RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (6-2, 2.92 ERA, 84 Ks, 74 Ks)
2.0 | Padres OF Jackson Merrill (10 HRs, 9 steals, .284/.320/.433)
1.8 | Dodgers RHP Gavin Stone (8-2, 2.73 ERA, 70 Ks, 89 Ks)
1.8 | Cubs LHP Shota Imanaga (7-2, 2.96 ERA, 81 Ks, 79 Ks)
1.7 | Cubs 1B Michael Busch (9 HRs, 1 SB, .260/.352/.445)
1.5 | Pirates RHP Paul Skenes (4-0, 2.14 ERA, 61 Ks, 46⅓ IP)
