The Padres star hit a walk-off home run when his team needed it most.
On Sunday, the rookie stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth of a tie game and promptly untied it.
The Padres had trailed the New York Mets for most of their tilt on Sunday. After a two-run home run by Jurickson Profar tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the eighth, San Diego had a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth. Edwin Diaz entered for the Mets and opened the frame by striking out Jake Cronenworth. Then Merrill stepped into the box.
Diaz fell behind 2-0 as two fastballs missed their mark. Then he threw a slider to the rookie and Merrill didn't miss, blasting a 379-foot home run to right. The ball left his bat at 104.4 mph. It was crushed, and Merrill knew it as soon as it left his bat.Merrill isn't just good, he's clutch. That home run gave Merrill six tying or go-ahead home runs in the eight inning or later this season. No other player in Major League Baseball has more. And he's just 21 years old.
That was Merrill's 19th home run of the season, tied for the most among rookies in MLB. He's also first in RBIs and hits , and among players who have played at least 100 games, he's first in batting average , second in slugging and second in OPS . He also tops in fWAR .Ryan Phillips is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in digital media since 2009, spending eight years at The Big Lead before joining SI in 2024.
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