MLB Insider Floats Padres’ Jackson Merrill as Shohei Ohtani Trade Centerpiece

San Diego could still be a buyer at the trade deadline, if it bounces back from a rough first half of the season.

The Padres have been aggressive, high-spenders over the last few years, making a big trade deadline splash to acquire Juan Soto from the Nationals just over a year ago. 

At 43–47, the NL West club is in a precarious playoff position, 8.5 games back of the Dodgers in the division and six games behind the Giants for the last NL wild card spot. However, if the Angels make Shohei Ohtani available, San Diego may still be a player to land him in an attempt to make a late playoff push, and in hopes of convincing him to sign a long-term deal with the team this offseason. 

If the Padres decide to push their chips all-in on Ohtani, The Athletic‘s Ken Rosenthal knows one major piece that would likely be headed to L.A.’s farm system in return: 20-year-old Single-A shortstop Jackson Merrill, who “should not get too comfortable,” he says.

Merrill is currently with the Fort Wayne TinCaps in the Midwest League. In 300 plate appearances, he’s hitting .280/.318/.444 with 10 home runs, 33 RBIs and 50 runs scored. He’s also swiped 10 bases for the TinCaps.

Merrill was a first-rounder in the 2021 MLB amateur draft, and is ranked in the top 22 of Baseball Prospectus, MLB and Baseball America‘s prospect rankings. Of course, it will almost certainly require far more than one well-regarded minor league shortstop to beat out the rest of the field for baseball’s greatest player, should he hit the trade block.