The secret to Jackson Merrill's success in his rookie season is a unique, repeatable skill as a hitter.
For most major league rookies, their first year in the big leagues comes with an obvious adjustment period. If the change to their swing, their body language, orPadres rookie Jackson Merrill appears to be the exception to the rule.
A shortstop in the minor leagues, Merrill surprised many by claiming the Padres' starting center field job on Opening Day. He's hit so well since, Padres manager Mike Shildt hasn't been able to take him out of a lineup that leads the National League in batting average. Merrill's slash lines by month reveal a high floor for offensive production, and a ceiling that perhaps hasn't been touched five months into his career:. One month remains in the regular season, so any debate around who should win the award is premature. Merrill and the other candidates still have a month to polish their resumes for the prestigious award.suggests a simple answer: pitchers haven't figured out how to get him out.
"His ability to go down and get it with the best of them while still covering the top of the strike zone," Rivera writes, "is the key to his success so early in his career." Merrill's success this deep into the season, with hardly a slump to show for it, suggest his ability to hit pitches at different heights well is a repeatable skill that will serve him — and the Padres — for years. Merrill homered Sunday against the Tampa Bay Rays, his 21st of the season.J.P. Hoornstra writes and edits Major League Baseball content for Halos Today and Inside the Padres, and is the author of 'The 50 Greatest Dodger Games Of All Time.
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