Jackson Merrill’s late-season surge has given the Padres exactly what they’ve been waiting for: a star who looks like himself again, right when the playoff race is tightening.
For most of the first half, Merrill was searching. He hit .213 with eight home runs over his first 81 games, a rough stretch that came with the occasional flash but not much in the way of steady production.
Over his last 20 games, though, the change has been impossible to miss. He’s batting .372 with seven homers, 11 extra-base hits and 16 runs scored.
That’s not a small bounce. That’s a full-on heater.
Saturday’s 3-2 win over the Astros was another reminder of how much he’s driving San Diego right now. Merrill knocked in the Padres’ first run with a fielder’s choice, stole second, then snapped a 1-1 tie with his 17th homer of the season. Michael King took it from there, giving up one run over six innings before the bullpen finished the job.
That kind of game feels like the template for what the Padres may need the rest of the way. This offense isn’t built to overwhelm teams every night, and the rotation is still being sorted out even after A.J.
Preller brought in Robbie Ray and Casey Mize at the trade deadline. In tight games, San Diego needs its best players to tilt the field.
On Saturday, Merrill did exactly that.
His return to form changes the look of the lineup. Batting fifth seems to fit him, giving him a little more protection and a chance to attack after the top of the order has done its work. Craig Stammen doesn’t need to push him into a role that asks him to be something he isn’t.
That pressure, or the urge to do too much, helped bury him earlier in the year. Merrill acknowledged that after the win.
Now his approach is straightforward: get on time, stay aggressive and look for a pitch he can drive. The result has been a bat that’s coming alive because he’s no longer trying to carry everything himself.
And it isn’t just the power. Merrill is one of five major leaguers with more than 15 homers and 20 stolen bases this season, and he added another little jolt on Saturday by hustling out a potential double play late in the game to keep an inning alive.
The Padres picked up ground in the Wild Card race with the win, but there’s still a lot left to sort out and plenty of baseball still ahead. San Diego has to keep stacking victories. The difference now is that Merrill, who was part of the problem for much of the first half, suddenly looks like a big part of the answer.
In Other News...
Padres Are Betting On A Veteran Bat To Fix One Lineup Problem
The Padres have turned to a familiar kind of midseason fix, agreeing to a major league contract with veteran outfielder Austin Hays as they look to shore up a lineup issue that has lingered all season. A right-handed hitter with nine MLB seasons on his resume, Hays brings experience across the outfield and gives San Diego another option at a time when the club has been searching for more reliable production against left-handed pitching.
For the Padres, the appeal is obvious: add a bat with enough track record to help balance out a lineup that has too often looked vulnerable in those matchups. Hays arrives with the kind of background teams tend to trust when they need immediate help, and his fit will now be judged by whether he can provide the right-handed punch San Diego has been missing. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Move On From Veteran Arm As Rotation Pressure Builds
The Padres have trimmed their pitching picture by designating right-hander Germn Mrquez for assignment and then releasing him to free agency, a move that reflects how much pressure is building around the back end of their staff. Mrquez never found much footing in San Diego, working to a 5.26 ERA in 53 innings before eventually getting shifted to the bullpen, where the club hoped he might settle into a different role.
Now the focus turns to other arms as the Padres try to sort out their rotation, with Robbie Ray and Casey Mize among the pitchers in the mix. For a team still trying to stabilize its pitching plan, moving on from a veteran name is less about one pitchers exit than about how aggressively the Padres are willing to reshuffle the staff to get better results. [Read more 🡒]