{"id":670173,"date":"2026-05-28T13:42:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T13:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/670173\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T13:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T13:42:16","slug":"the-padres-greatest-hope-has-been-part-of-the-problem-they-need-jackson-merrill-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/670173\/","title":{"rendered":"The Padres\u2019 greatest hope has been part of the problem. They need Jackson Merrill back"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN DIEGO \u2014 History, futility and slivers of hope could all be found Wednesday at Petco Park.<\/p>\n

Left-hander Cristopher S\u00e1nchez spun seven innings to establish the Philadelphia Phillies\u2019 longest single-season scoreless streak<\/a> since at least 1893, when baseball\u2019s current mound distance was established. The San Diego Padres lost 3-0, absorbing a three-game sweep and their third shutout defeat of a nine-game homestand that saw them finish with only 19 runs. Moments before S\u00e1nchez roared as he strode off the mound for the last time, Jackson Merrill struck a fly-ball double to seal his best performance in weeks.<\/p>\n

Amid relative desolation, Merrill went 2-for-3 off S\u00e1nchez, perhaps the early favorite for the National League Cy Young Award. It was the Padres center fielder\u2019s first multi-hit performance since May 5. Over the previous 17 games, he had descended into the worst slump of his professional career, batting .102 with three extra-base hits and 20 strikeouts.<\/p>\n

An afternoon that wasn\u2019t all bad still brought a parting reminder. With San Diego down to its final strike, Merrill popped out against reliever Jos\u00e9 Alvarado.<\/p>\n

Two years after he made a precocious debut, the greatest source of hope in a struggling offense is hitting .200 with a .589 OPS. Meanwhile, the 31-24 Padres \u2014 who entered their homestand only a half-game behind the Los Angeles Dodgers \u2014 are tied with the surging Arizona Diamondbacks for second place in the National League West.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt great, but obviously, the main goal wasn\u2019t accomplished,\u201d Merrill said. \u201cSo, just keep working.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n After starring offensively for much of his first two seasons, Jackson Merrill is hitting .200 with a .589 OPS. (Sean M. Haffey \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

In 2024, Merrill was the NL\u2019s best rookie hitter and an immediate All-Star. In 2025, he signed a nine-year, $135 million contract extension. In October, after a regular season marred by injuries, he homered in the Padres\u2019 final game of the year as his teammates slumped around him<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet, in 2026, Merrill has been part of the problem for a club weighed down by the underperformance of its stars. The league is littered with flawed teams, and the Padres, for now, still have some cushion in the standings. At the same time, the youngest player in the lineup is attempting to strike a balance with his struggles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really want to present myself in the clubhouse and be kind of like a problem,\u201d Merrill said before Wednesday\u2019s game. \u201cI don\u2019t want to affect anybody else\u2019s performance, so I\u2019m pretty patient, pretty (keep) to myself about everything kind of going on. I\u2019m working my ass off to get back to a point I want to be at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is the Padres\u2019 record influencing his urgency to course-correct?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve felt urgency to get out of it for a while now,\u201d Merrill said. \u201cYou know, it could be more than eight games above .500, so I don\u2019t know. I just want to get out of this as soon as possible and obviously stay as patient as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patience at the plate has not come naturally. As a rookie, Merrill hit .292 with 24 home runs and a 34.5 percent chase rate that was comfortably above the major-league average. He swung outside the strike zone even more often last year, when he contended with a hamstring strain, a concussion and an ankle sprain. He embarked on his third season, aiming for more walks, more contact and more power.<\/p>\n

Two months in, he is walking more but also chasing pitches roughly as often as before. His production and his underlying numbers<\/a> have plummeted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of those situations where, like, \u2018I\u2019m going to be really stingy right here.\u2019 Then he takes one down the middle, and then the next one he swings at the dirt,\u201d Padres manager Craig Stammen said late Tuesday. \u201cAnd it\u2019s \u2018Don\u2019t swing, don\u2019t swing,\u2019 and all of a sudden you\u2019re swinging.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next day, Stammen sought to ease the pressure on the 23-year-old. Merrill was scheduled to bat seventh for the first time this season. In the morning, he sat near the middle of the home clubhouse, quietly working on a crossword puzzle.<\/p>\n

Later, he discussed his conundrum in the left-handed batter\u2019s box.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Merrill said. \u201cIt\u2019s just like ups and downs. I feel good in some spots, and I\u2019m not getting hits, and I feel bad in some spots, and I\u2019m getting hits. And it\u2019s like wanting to get on the same page as, honestly, myself. Be one person at the plate the entire time. Go up with a good approach every time and execute.\u201d<\/p>\n

His season has not been all bad. He\u2019d already robbed four home runs since Opening Day. The advanced metrics said he has easily been the Padres\u2019 best baserunner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve improved in a lot of areas,\u201d Merrill said. \u201cJust want the bat to come back and all will be well, honestly. I think it\u2019s huge for the team, too. I feel like I lead by example, and I need to start doing that again.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the afternoon, he did what he could. He fell behind 0-2 in his first at-bat, then inside-outed a single to left field. He grounded out the other way in his second at-bat, stranding a runner at second. He turned on a S\u00e1nchez changeup \u2014 one of baseball\u2019s deadliest pitches \u2014 in his third at-bat, sending a one-out double into the right-field corner.<\/p>\n

The Padres stranded him, too. They finished the game 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and 0-for-their-last-34 in those situations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we did a good job getting on base, getting stuff started,\u201d Merrill said afterward. \u201cWe just couldn\u2019t capitalize, I feel like, kind of all series.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most obvious suspects, all season, have been the Padres\u2019 highest-paid hitters. Right fielder and second baseman Fernando Tatis Jr., 27, remains without a home run. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts, 33, has cooled off after a promising start. Third baseman Manny Machado, also 33, has an OPS that ranks 152nd among 168 qualifying big leaguers.<\/p>\n

So, now and in the future, Merrill represents a potential bulwark against a precipitous decline of the team\u2019s veteran core. But his current OPS ranks 157th. Could his latest showing have been the start of a positive regression?<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope (so). For me, too,\u201d Machado said after twice flying out to the warning track. \u201cWe\u2019re starting to feel it as a group overall, so we\u2019ve got to pick up the slack. And I know Jackson, how he is, that he\u2019s doing everything he can to get back on that path.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wednesday, there were a few slivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat opposite-field single, when he first came up, that\u2019s what his bread and butter was,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cI think a little bit of that mindset of getting back to that, and \u2026 hopefully, he\u2019s trending in the right direction and that\u2019s good news for the Padres.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN DIEGO \u2014 History, futility and slivers of hope could all be found Wednesday at Petco Park. Left-hander…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,2328,99],"class_list":["post-670173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}