Is Jackson Merrill having the best rookie season in Padres history?
Aug 9, 2024; Miami, Florida, USA; San Diego Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill (3) celebrates his home run against the Miami Marlins in the ninth inning at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Rhona Wise-USA TODAY Sports
Padres rookie Jackson Merrill has been one of the most impactful players on the entire team in 2024. Is this the best rookie season in team history?
It has become clear that Jackson Merrill is not just the Padres‘ best rookie, but he’s one of their best players, period.
On Friday in Miami, he led yet another comeback victory for the Padres with yet another game-tying homer in the ninth inning. In fact, when the ball cleared the fence in right-center field, he made history.
The @Padres' Jackson Merrill:
July 30: game-tying HR in 9th inning vs. LAD
August 7: game-tying HR in 9th inning at Pit
August 9: game-tying HR in 9th inning at MiaHe's the first player in MLB history to hit 3 game-tying HR in the 9th or later in a span of 11 days or less. pic.twitter.com/M8c8mVi8Fo
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) August 10, 2024
His clutch stats are nothing short of remarkable. The tying homer in Miami marked the fifth home run of his season in the seventh inning or later. He already even has a walk-off homer to his name.
If he isn’t the greatest rookie in Padres history, he is certainly the most clutch.
But is Jackson Merrill having the greatest rookie season in Padres history?
The Friars have only had one Rookie of the Year winner. That is Benito Santiago, in 1987. The Puerto Rican catcher batted .300 with 18 homers, adding up to 3.1 fWAR in 146 games. That ranks fifth in franchise history in fWAR (FanGraphs WAR) for a rookie with a minimum of 250 plate appearances.
It used to rank fourth until Merrill showed up.
With Friday’s heroics, Merrill has now passed Santiago’s rookie WAR mark and now stands in third place in franchise history with 3.3 fWAR.
Only Carmelo Martinez‘s 1984 with 3.7 WAR and Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar‘s rookie year in 1988, at 3.8, rank higher than Merrill’s 2024.
This, with still 45 games left to play. Merrill needs just 0.6 more WAR to have the highest single-season WAR as a rookie in Padres history.
Fernando Tatis Jr. burst onto the scene in 2019, hitting 22 homers with a .317 average and .969 OPS, both are franchise rookie records. However, he only played 84 games. Merrill has just missed four games the entire season. He will have a much larger sample size while also playing centerfield.
Merrill looks like a 10-year veteran at the plate. Entering Saturday, he owned a .294 average, .808 OPS, and a 127 wRC+. He is just the third rookie in Padres history with at least 15 homers and ten stolen bases (Santiago, Tatis Jr.).
Let’s not forget, he also started playing centerfield cold turkey in Spring Training after never having played there in pro ball before. Thus far, he has looked like a natural in centerfield, being in the 86th percentile in Outs Above Average with plus arm strength.
Will he win Rookie of the Year? Unfortunately, Paul Skenes is the heavy favorite, with -5000 odds per FOX Sports. Merrill is second in the NL ROTY odds with +1500. It seems like Skenes will win it unless the Pirates shut him down soon as they fade from contention.
Whether or not Merrill wins NL Rookie of the Year doesn’t matter in this case. If he stays on this pace through the final month and a half of the season, it will go down as the greatest rookie season in Padres franchise history.
Native of Escondido, CA. Lived in San Diego area for 20 years. Padres fan since childhood (mid-90s). I have been writing since 2014. I currently live near Seattle, WA and am married to a Seattle sports girl. I wore #19 on my high school baseball team for Tony Gwynn. I am a stats and sports history nerd. I attended BYU on the Idaho campus. I also love Star Wars.