The San Diego Padres have a lot of traditional Shortstops on their roster heading into the 2024 season. With all of the infield spots locked up between Jake Cronenworth, Xander Bogaerts, Ha-Seong Kim and Manny Machado, the Padres needed to find a spot for their top prospect Jackson Merrill. Just two days before they open the season in Korea, the Padres have announced he’ll play center field.
During Spring Training and their time in Korea, Merrill worked out at multiple outfield spots including Left and Center. According to Jon Morosi, he already had the position won when the Padres went to Korea, as he switched his number.
Jackson Merrill has been sensational for the Padres this spring. The move does come with some concerns though as he has not yet played a game above Double-A. His numbers in the minors weren’t really eye-popping either. Merrill slashed a solid but unspectacular .277/.326/.444 in 114 games split between the High-A and Double-A levels last year. That hasn’t stopped him from hitting well off of top-tier pitching this offseason this spring.
Merrill had some work in the outfield last season and prefers center field. Of course, a lot has played into the results leading to him being named the opening day starter as well. Including the trade of both Juan Soto and Trent Grisham. They have explored options outside of the organization including Tommy Pham, Kevin Kiermaier and Michael A. Taylor. Though ultimately, they opted to try Merrill.
“We’re still looking at it and evaluating,” Shildt said of his roster decisions. “Clearly, we’ve got some decisions to make relative to the roster. So we’ve got a pretty good handle on it. Don’t want people to feel like, ‘Aw, man, I’ve got to do something great today.’”
The Padres have four spots on their 40-man roster available, so no corresponding moves will need to be made.