San Diego Padres' Youngster Joins Extremely Rare Group in Baseball History By Earning Opening Day Start

By earning the start in center field on Wednesday at the Seoul Series, San Diego Padres' rookie Jackson Merrill became the fourth-youngest player to start in centerfield on Opening Day during the Divisional Era.

As the 2024 Major League Baseball season kicked off Wednesday morning in Seoul, South Korea, San Diego Padres' outfielder Jackson Merrill joined a really rare and unique group in baseball history.

Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com on social media:

At 20 years and 336 days old, Jackson Merrill is the 4th-youngest Opening Day starting CF in the divisional era (1969), older than only: 

1989 Ken Griffey Jr: 19 y, 133 d 

1990 Griffey: 20 y, 139 d 1969 

Don Hahn: 20 y, 143 d

At 20 years and 336 days old, Jackson Merrill is the 4th-youngest Opening Day starting CF in the divisional era (1969), older than only:

1989 Ken Griffey Jr: 19 y, 133 d
1990 Griffey: 20 y, 139 d
1969 Don Hahn: 20 y, 143 d https://t.co/pKRdOo9NPy

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) March 20, 2024

It's ironic that Merrill joins Griffey Jr. in this group considering that Griffey Jr. was in attendance for see Opening Day, serving as a photographer, something he's regularly done since retiring.

Even more amazing is that Merrill accomplished this feat at all, considering he's a shortstop prospect who has converted to the outfield to help the Padres this year. In the wake of trading Juan Soto and Trent Grisham this offseason, San Diego had only two traditional outfielders on the 40-man roster, so Merrill stepped up to fill the void.

Merrill is the No. 12 prospect in baseball entering the 2024 season. He hit .277 last season in the minor leagues with 15 home runs and 15 stolen bases.

The following comes from his MLB.com prospect profile:

Batting from the left side, Merrill uses an all-fields approach to pepper the ballpark with base knocks while protecting the plate. He doesn’t whiff often for his age and experience with an 8.1 percent swinging-strike rate that ranked 10th-best among qualified full-season Minor Leaguers aged 20 or younger in 2023. He did a better job of elevating balls last season, cutting down his ground-ball rate from 59.6 percent to 42.5, and that helps the belief that he’ll settle into above-average power later in his 20s.

The Korea Series continues on Thursday morning with the first pitch coming at 6 a.m. ET.

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