When the San Diego Padres selected Jackson Merrill in the first round of the 2021 MLB Draft, Padres general manager and president of baseball operations AJ Preller told a great story about Merrill’s scouting. When Merrill signed a contract extension in 2025, the story was repeated. Preller tried to watch Merrill from the stands at the football stadium next to the baseball game so as not to tip off his intentions to other scouts. He gets caught and then has to try to keep his true intentions a secret while gracefully escaping the situation.
Merrill was intentionally left out in the Preller trade that brought in superstar outfielder Juan Soto. He appears to be an “untouchable” guy in San Diego’s system and won’t be part of the package.
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When Merrill arrived at Padres spring training in February 2024, he was a shortstop. He has been a shortstop throughout his professional and high school career. The Padres have a shortstop, and Xander Bogaerts has signed a massive multi-year contract to play the position. At the start of training in Peoria, Preller and the Padres staff approached Merrill about learning to play the outfield, initially moving away from the outfield before he eventually settled in center field. He spent the spring willingly learning the position. At the end of spring training, Manny Machado and other Padres veterans lobbied the Padres coaching staff and Preller on behalf of Merrill to make the Opening Day roster…as a center fielder.
The 2024 season has been a huge success for midfielder Jackson Merrill. He played in 156 games, batting .292/.326/.500 with an OPS of .826. He hit 24 home runs, drove in 90 RBIs, and finished the season with 4.4 WAR, a Silver Slugger Award, an All-Star Game, and a second-place finish over Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes for the Rookie of the Year Award.
Preller began trying to sign Merrill to a long-term contract before his breakout rookie season. Although he didn’t succeed at first, he kept trying. In April 2025, just as the new season began, the Padres announced a 9-year contract extension worth $135 million with Merrill. That includes a $10 million signing bonus over four years, with $1 million in 2025 and $3 million in 2026, 2027 and 2028, as well as bonuses that escalate over time, appearances and top-five MVP finishes. The Padres have a team option for 2035, which Merrill can add to his player option. All told, this could be a 10-year contract worth $204 million.
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While the 2025 season is going to be a frustrating and injury-riddled one for Merrill, there is no doubt that he will bounce back this season among most corners in MLB. Entering his age-23 season, Merrill can try to continue the momentum he built when he finally got healthy in late 2025. In his final 158 games, Merrill hit nine home runs and 11 doubles with a maximum exit velocity of 110.4 mph. Over the past 30 games, he’s hitting .289/.325/.623 with an OPS of .948.
With a little luck and a normal spring training, Merrill could be the face of this franchise by the end of the season. When MLB Network named the top center fielder in 2025, Merrill was ranked No. 2 based on analytical evaluation and No. 1 by show host Brian Kenney.
As fans look at the huge contracts in free agency this offseason, Padres fans need to realize that we have a one-in-a-million player in Merrill. Merrill possesses the five tools, desire to win, leadership and loyalty to his teammates and city that will evoke memories of Tony Gwynn among fans.
Despite his father’s urging, Gwen turned down more free agent offers and accepted a below-market contract to stay in San Diego and become a Padre (a six-year, $4.6 million deal in 1985 and a three-year, $12.25 million deal in 1991). It’s not hard to imagine that Merrill could have waited until later in his career to sign an extension and get more money. Or he could have spent his arbitration years and signed a massive free agent contract. He opted to sign early, saying he wanted to spend the rest of his career in San Diego and saying he was grateful to Preller and the Padres for their faith in him.
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Merrill is a unicorn of modern baseball. While it’s rare to play for one team for your entire career, Padres fans have a chance to see it in Merrill. If he fulfills his entire contract, he will be 33 years old. He definitely has more to do after that, but we wish him great success as a Padre for many years to come and end up in San Diego like he wants.
I think Tony Gwen would agree.
