Jackson Merrill's Historic Rookie Season Earned Him an All-Star Selection

At 21, Merrill continues to impress and more than earned an All-Star spot.

July 5, 2024; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill (3) celebrates after hitting an RBI triple during the fourth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Denis Poroy-USA TODAY Sports / Denis Poroy-USA TODAY Sports

Jackson Merrill's remarkable first big league season continued on Sunday as he was added to the National League's roster at the 2024 MLB All-Star Game. The 21-year-old will be the youngest player to play in the game since 2013. It was yet another milestone in what has become a historic rookie season.

A week from the All-Star break, Merrill has been phenomenal for the Padres. He's currently slashing .288/.322/.452, with 12 home runs, 46 RBIs, 10 stolen bases, a .774 OPS and a wRC+ of 122. His fWAR of 2.5 leads all NL center fielders and trails only Aaron Judge at the position. That number is also third among all NL outfielders, trailing only teammate Jurickson Profar (2.8) and Brandon Nimmo of the New York Mets (2.8).

When Merrill started as the San Diego Padres' Opening Day center fielder he had already made history. At 20 years and 336 days old, he was the third-youngest Opening Day center fielder MLB has seen in the last 50 years, surpassed only by Ken Griffey Jr. and Andruw Jones. He hasn't stopped eclipsing milestones since.

At 21 years and 88 days old, only eight players younger than Merrill will have appeared in an All-Star Game in the last 40 seasons: Griffey, Bryce Harper, Ivan Rodriguez, Mike Trout, Alex Rodriguez, Jose Fernandez, Manny Machado and Miguel Cabrera. That's quite a list to be added to.

Merrill made more history on June 20 when he became only the second center fielder 21 or younger to hit six or more home runs in an eight-game span. The other guy who did it? Willie Mays in 1951.

Despite his age, Merrill has yet to hit a prolonged slump as a rookie and, if anything, he's getting better. June was his best month of the season as he finished it slashing .320/.346/.650, with nine home runs, seven doubles, 20 RBI and an OPS of .996.

Merrill was a late-riser entering the 2021 MLB draft, who many believed would wind up as a second-round pick. MLB Pipeline had him ranked 79th in the draft class. A 6'3" skinny high school shortstop out of Severna Park High School in Maryland, he had impressed during his senior year. Padres general manager A.J. Preller plucked him with the 27th pick and he's done nothing but impress since. By the beginning of 2023 he was widely considered among the top 20 prospects in baseball.

What makes his ascendance even crazier is that Merrill started the 2023 in the High-A Midwest League. He played 124 games for the Fort Wayne TinCaps, before earning a call-up to Double-A San Antonio. He played 46 games there to finish the season. In total, he only had 187 at-bats above A-ball before this season, and only 800 total minor league at-bats. Oh, and the craziest part? He came up as a shortstop who hadn't played center field regularly prior to spring training this year. He has done all of that at 21 years old.

Merrill has far surpassed expectations, even as a top prospect and, along with Paul Skenes, has separated himself from the rest of the NL rookie class. He has more than earned a spot at the 2024 MLB All-Star Game and it is abundantly clear we haven't even seen the best of him yet.