San Diego, CA

Padres roster review: Jackson Merrill

Published

1 year ago

January 24, 2025

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Padres roster review: Jackson Merrill – San Diego Union-Tribune

JACKSON MERRILL

Position(s): Center field
Bats / Throws: Left / Right
2025 opening day age: 21
Height / Weight: 6-foot-3 / 195 pounds
How acquired: 1st round in 2021 (Severna Park HS, Md)
Contract status: Will not be arbitration-eligible until 2027
fWAR in 2024: 5.3
Key 2024 stats: .292 avg., .326 OBP, .500 SLG, 24 HRs, 90 RBIs, 77 runs, 29 walks, 101 strikeouts, 16 steals (156 games, 593 plate appearances)

STAT TO NOTE

.945 — Merrill’s OPS in 61 games after the All-Star break, 200 points above his first-half mark. Merrill paired 12 homers and 46 RBIs with a .278/.310/.435 batting line over 95 games to earn an All-Star invitation and then upped his game with 12 more homers and a .314/.349/.596 batting line as the Padres went 43-20 after the break to wrap up the NL’s top wild-card spot.

Up — Before selecting Merrill with the 27th overall pick in 2021, the Padres’ first pick of the draft had been entrenched inside the top-10 since 2016. The industry saw Merrill as a pop-up prospect, but the Padres were confident in their homework on him coming out of the pandemic and were rewarded when Merrill developed into a prospect that ranked as high as No. 12 in MLB.com’s top-100 heading into the 2024 season. He was still a shortstop at that point, but that didn’t stop the Padres, ever creative under Padres President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller, from giving him a look in left field and then in center in spring training. Merrill looked like a natural in the grass and hit .333/.378/.548 in a Cactus League to force his way onto the opening day roster and into the lineup for the Seoul Series. At 20 years and 336 days old, only Ken Griffey Jr. (19 years, 133 days in 1989 and 20 years, 139 days in 1990) and Don Hahn (20 years, 143 days in 1969) were younger than Merrill while starting in center field on opening day in the divisional era. Merrill went on to collect two hits in his second game and hold his own in April (.696 OPS). After a cold May (.656 OPS), he hit .320/.346/.651 in June as the NL Rookie of the Month. That helped catapult Merrill toward a spot on the NL’s All-Star team, but a second NL Rookie of the Month push in August was part of a second-half tear (see stat to note) that helped push the Padres toward the NL’s top wild-card spot. Merrill hit 12 of his 24 homers in the second half and ranked in the top 96% in the majors in expected slugging (.534) during the breakout rookie season. Moreover, he became the first rookie and the youngest player of the expansion era to ever hit five game-tying or go-ahead homers in the ninth inning or later, which included blasts off some of the best relievers in the game in Mason Miller, Edwin Díaz and Blake Treinen. Merrill went on to hit .250/.333/.500 with one homer in seven postseason games. Merrill finished second to the Pirates’ Paul Skenes’ historic year in NL Rookie of the Year voting, but his credentials were more than good enough to win in most years as he led all rookies in hits (162), extra-base hits (61), RBIs (90), batting average (.292) and slugging (.500), was tied with the Orioles’ Colton Cowser in home runs and was tied for sixth among all center fielders with 12 outs above average.

2025 OUTLOOK

Merrill developing into an All-Star as a rookie played a major role in a payroll-shedding Padres team winning 93 games, second most in franchise history. The Padres have yet to outline a plan to replace Ha-Seong Kim at shortstop and Merrill could be seen as an option. The organization, however, has top prospect Leodalis De Vries developing quickly, which could lead the Padres to allow Merrill to simply build on a standout 2024 season in center field, perhaps higher in the lineup, too, as he moved into a run-producing role late in the year after spending most of the season in the bottom third.

San Diego Padres’ Jackson Merrill and teammates celebrate a 4-2 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers to secure a playoff spot at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024.(K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Roster rankings

6. RHP Yu Darvish
7. INF Luis Arraez
8. INF Xander Bogaerts
9. RHP Robert Suarez
10. INF Jake Cronenworth
11. RHP Jason Adam
12. RHP Joe Musgrove
13. Adrián Morejón
14. RHP Jeremiah Estrada
15. RHP Matt Waldron
16. INF Eguy Rosario
17. RHP Randy Vásquez
18. RHP Bryan Hoeing
19. LHP Yuki Matsui
20. RHP Sean Reynolds
21. C Luis Campusano
22. RHP Jhony Brito
23. RHP Alek Jacob
24. OF Tirso Ornelas
25. RHP Ryan Bergert
26. RHP Henry Baez
27. LHP Omar Cruz
28. OF Brandon Lockridge
29. LHP Tom Cosgrove
30. RHP Stephen Kolek
31. RHP Juan Nuñez
32. C Brett Sullivan
33. UT Tyler Wade
34. LHP Wandy Peralta

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San Diego, CA

Opinion: Proposed federal rule would hammer beauty industry

Published

9 minutes ago

May 12, 2026

Press Room

Opinion: Proposed federal rule would hammer beauty industry

Beauty and wellness are a staple of American culture. Thousands of citizens visit our spas and salons throughout the United States for critical, everyday grooming services they rely on. However, if the U.S. Department of Education has its way, Americans could soon have trouble finding qualified professionals to perform these traditional self-care rituals.

The department is proposing a new rule that would end access to many professional beauty programs — an important and growing trade. The department also is mistakenly labeling professional beauty programs as “low-value programs,” even though these programs offer students almost immediate employment opportunities providing professionals a flexible work-life balance.

Driven by high demand for skincare and hair services, there are currently more than 1.4 million professionals throughout the U.S. who work in the professional beauty industry. The professional beauty and wellness industry’s economic trajectory tells a story of continued and sustained growth. Growing at an annual rate of 7% from 2022 to 2024, according to McKinsey & Co., the United States ranks among the 10 fastest-growing wellness markets worldwide.

But even a robust and resilient industry like ours cannot overcome bad policy decisions that threaten an entire industry. Congress never included an accountability metric for certificate programs like cosmetology or massage therapy programs in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act does contain an accountability metric called “Do No Harm,” which is designed to keep colleges and universities that offer degree programs or graduate-level certificates accountable to the American people.

The accountability metric for degree programs, when applied to certificate programs, will eliminate opportunities for Americans to receive federal student aid, including Pell Grants, to unlock a career in cosmetology or massage therapy. The Department of Education has acknowledged using the Do No Harm provision as an accountability metric will have a severe negative impact on the cosmetology and massage schools nationwide, and determined that 92% of accredited cosmetology and massage therapy schools eventually will lose access to all federal student aid, including Pell Grants, for their students and most likely will be forced to close in the near future.

The one saving grace is that the department has not finalized its proposed rule, and it is not too late for the public to tell the department that this rule does not fit the bill for professional beauty students and schools. Comments must be received on or by May 20. You can submit your comments on the Accountability in Higher Education and Access through Demand-driven Workforce Pell (AHEAD) rule through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at regulations.gov/commenton/ED-2026-OPE-0100-0001. The department will not accept comments submitted by fax or by email or comments submitted after the comment period closes.

Any new rule adopted by the agency needs to account for the overall demographic and work-life balance goals of students and the professional beauty industry. These students and future small business owners deserve the same opportunities as students pursuing careers in other disciplines and fields.

Lynch is the owner and chief executive officer of the Poway-based Bellus Academy and the founding chair of the nonprofit Beauty Changes Lives, which awards nearly $500,000 in scholarships annually.

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San Diego, CA

San Diego health officials monitor hantavirus situation as cruise ship passengers return to U.S.

Published

12 hours ago

May 11, 2026

Press Room

San Diego health officials monitor hantavirus situation as cruise ship passengers return to U.S.

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — American passengers from a cruise ship hit with a hantavirus outbreak are back in the United States.

San Diego County health officials say they are monitoring the situation and there is no need for panic.

“The risk to Californians is really low and especially here in San Diego. Since the year 2000, we’ve only had 4 cases of hantavirus and the majority of those were in travel related cases so not even acquired here locally,” Ankita Kadakia, deputy public health officer for the County of San Diego, said.

According to the CDC, hantavirus is spread through contact with infected rodents.

“The virus can be in their saliva, feces or droppings,” Kadakia said.

San Diego County does see cases of rodents infected with hantavirus, but the strain seen locally is not the same strain connected to the cruise ship outbreak.

“The vast majority of strains of hantavirus are mouse or animal to human transmission. Not human to human transmission. So the Andes strain, which is found in Argentina, there is evidence that there is human to human transmission,” Dr. Ahmed Salem, a pulmonologist at Sharp Memorial Hospital, said.

Salem treated hantavirus during the 2012 Yosemite National Park outbreak.

“One of the ways you die from hantavirus is you get a collapse of your cardiac system and your pulmonary system and you have to go on something called ECMO. It’s one of the most aggressive forms of life support that you can do. So I do remember that case, and unfortunately, that person passed away,” Salem said.

There is currently no cure or vaccine for hantavirus. Health officials stress that for those who were not on the cruise ship, the risk of contracting the virus remains low.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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San Diego, CA

Machado's walk-off lifts Padres to 10-inning comeback victory over Cards

Published

1 day ago

May 11, 2026

Press Room

Machado's walk-off lifts Padres to 10-inning comeback victory over Cards

SAN DIEGO — The Padres earned a split against the Cardinals in dramatic fashion on Sunday afternoon. Nick Castellanos hit a game-tying two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth, and Manny Machado’s sacrifice fly won it in the 10th.
Here’s some instant reaction from the Padres’ wild 3-2 victory

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