SAN DIEGO -- This is as rough as it’s ever gotten for Jackson Merrill. There were times when it was difficult in the Minor Leagues. He struggled early as a rookie, too, before his eventual breakout. Last year, he endured a midsummer swoon that mirrored this one -- only it didn’t last nearly as long.
But, Merrill is now a third of the way into this season, and he’s struggled throughout. There were some early bursts of power. Those quickly faded, however, and he entered play Wednesday with the 10th-worst OPS (.576) among all qualified hitters.
Nonetheless, this is still Jackson Merrill, brazen and full of self-confidence. So, yes, even when he’s mired in the worst slump of his big league career -- the worst slump of his life -- he wants a crack at Cristopher Sánchez, perhaps the toughest left-hander in baseball right now.
If anything, Merrill said, that challenge clarified things for him. He needed to simplify. He needed to compete. And sure enough, Merrill turned in a pair of hits in three at-bats against Sánchez -- an opposite-field single in the second and a roped double down the line in the seventh.
“Felt great,” Merrill said after the Padres’ 3-0 loss in their series finale against the Phillies on Wednesday. “But, obviously, the main goal wasn’t accomplished. So you just keep working.”
Throughout his season-long funk, Merrill has worked tirelessly to find a way through. Maybe he’s working too hard. He’s wondered to himself if he’s thinking too much about tweaks at the plate. Or, put another way, you could say Merrill is overthinking his overthinking.
But, this is all new to him. So, he’s doing his best to avoid worrying about the slump itself while immersing himself in the work it will take to get out of it.
Merrill burst onto the scene with a Rookie of the Year-caliber season in 2024. It took Paul Skenes-level dominance to deny him the award. Throughout that summer -- aside from a very early acclimation period -- Merrill almost never struggled.
Last year, he did. But, he was also beset with injuries and found himself in and out of the lineup. This year has been different.
“I’ve been very patient,” Merrill said. “I don’t really want to present myself to the clubhouse and be kind of, like, a problem. I don’t want to affect anybody else’s performance. So I’ve been pretty patient, pretty to myself about everything going on. And I’ll work my [tail] off to get back to a point where I want to be at.”
Merrill’s frustration is palpable. But, it’s also commendable that he’s aware of the way he’s presenting himself through his struggles.
For one thing, Merrill certainly hasn’t let those issues at the plate affect the other aspects of his game. He’s already swiped 10 bags this season without being caught. He robbed his fourth home run of the season on Tuesday night.
“I’m still playing my [tail] off, playing the best I can on defense, obviously running the bases,” Merrill said. “That’s a huge upside from last year. I feel like I’ve improved in a lot of areas.
“I just want the bat to come back and all will be well, honestly.”
That’s both a factual statement and an oversimplification. As was his manager’s assessment on Tuesday, after Merrill went 0-for-4 and struck out twice in the late innings.
“He’s had a great season, other than hitting,” was how Craig Stammen began his response. You can read that snarkily if you want, but Stammen was just being genuine.
“He’s played great defense, and he’s run the bases really well,” Stammen continued. “… We feel really good with him playing center field. We believe it’s just a matter of time before he starts swinging with a hot bat. He’s struggling right now, but we’re behind him, and we’ve got his back.”
Merrill, of course, is one of three struggling superstars in the Padres’ lineup. And while the struggles of Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado have drawn more headlines, Merrill is having, statistically, the worst season of the three.
Across 216 plate appearances, he’s hitting just .200 with a .589 OPS. And, despite all of that, the Padres entered play Wednesday eight games above .500, in playoff position in the National League. Not that any of that changes Merrill’s mindset about his slump.
“I’ve felt urgency to get out of it for a while now,” he said. “We could be more than eight games over .500. I just want to be out of this as soon as possible.”
On that front, Wednesday was maybe -- just maybe -- an encouraging sign.
“Hopefully he’s trending in the right direction,” said Stammen. “And that’s good news for the Padres.”