Final week, the San Diego Padres introduced that they’d take middle discipline prospect Jackson Merrill to South Korea for the Seoul Sequence that can happen between Wednesday and Thursday.
He gained his spot truthful and sq.: not solely is he some of the proficient prospects in MLB amongst gamers of his place, however he backed up that expertise with outcomes throughout spring coaching.
Nevertheless, the group doubled down on Merrill and are saying that he would be the starter in middle discipline for Opening Day.
Merrill is MLB’s No.12 general prospect pic.twitter.com/xnUWDx305r
A 2021 first-round decide, Merrill continues to be simply 20.
He will likely be one of many youngest gamers in MLB, however his presence on the roster tells us one factor: regardless of shedding virtually their complete rotation in free company and reliever Josh Hader (to not point out star outfielder Juan Soto), the Padres wish to compete in 2024 and are keen to start out Merrill’s clock.
Merrill was initially a shortstop, however the Padres have Ha-Seong Kim and Xander Bogaerts there, so that they made him swap positions.
With the bat, he has been unstoppable in spring coaching play, slashing .351/.400/.595 with two homers and two steals in 13 video games.
Between Excessive-A and Double-A, Merrill hit 15 homers and in addition stole 15 bases final yr and he carried out effectively relative to the league-average offensive participant regardless of being younger for his degree.
The Padres are making him skip Triple-A altogether, however this can be a particular participant who has the expertise to justify such an aggressive organizational transfer.