2 Padres Officially In the Running for Major End of Season Awards

Maren Angus-Coombs | Oct 23, 2024

Apr 12, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; San Diego Padres left fielder Jurickson Profar (10), center fielder Jackson Merrill (3) and right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. (23) celebrate after the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The San Diego Padres have two players in the running for awards handed out by the Major League Baseball Players Association.

Outfielder Jackson Merrill is a finalist for National League's Outstanding Rookie Award and outfielder Jurickson Profar is a finalist for National League Comeback Player Award.

Merrill is up against the Pirates’ Paul Skenes and the Brewers’Jackson Chourio while Profar is up against the Braves’ Chris Sale and the Brewers’ Rhys Hoskins.

The MLBPA’s rookie award is separate from the National League Rookie of the Year Award, voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America and revealed after the World Series.

Jackson Merrill on the bitter end to this season, using it as fuel during the offseason and how he's grown as a player this season: pic.twitter.com/gsOra68CBa

— 97.3 The Fan (@973TheFanSD) October 12, 2024

The MLBPA award-winners will be announced during FOX’s pregame show ahead of Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday.

Merrill emerged as a force in June. He delivered clutch home runs at will with five of them to either tie the game or give his team a lead in the ninth inning or later, the most by any player 21 years old or younger.

There's no debate for Merrill's teammates who believe the rookie deserves the award more than anyone else, but Merrill deflected from the attention all season. He was focused on the season not the accolades.

“I don’t even care about that stuff. … I care about our team right here, and I care about winning,” and he echoed some version of that statement each time he was asked.

“He’s 21 years old, everything he does is baseball,” starting pitcher Michael King said earlier this season. “It’s not like he has a family that he goes home to and kids that he goes and talks to. He gets to the field, and he’s so happy to be here and talks about how we’re all his best friends, and we’re just having fun.

“Now me, sitting here, having a bad outing – I look at Jackson and I’m like, ‘That’s the mentality that I need to have.’ It’s just his contagious mentality. We go out, and we’re playing a kids’ game, we’re
loving each other. And it’s a lot easier game when you’re playing for your brothers."

Merrill developed into an excellent defender at his new position – worth 11 Outs Above Average, per Statcast. He played in 156 regular season games each of them at a brand new position.

He did all that while playing high school baseball just three years ago.