Jackson Merrill gives Padres fans what they want with 443 foot blast

Padres star center fielder Jackson Merrill was a small bright spot in San Diego's 10-4 loss to the Royals on Sunday, going 2-for-2 and launching his first home run of the spring campaign. Batting third in the lineup, Merrill would step to the plate against last year's Cy Young runner-up Seth Lugo, and send a 90 MPH cutter screaming over the centerfield wall with an outrageous 112.2 exit velocity.

In 11 at-bats so far, Merrill has four hits, four RBI's, and one run scored for a 1.000 OPS. Heading for his second year in the league, Merrill is looking to avoid a sophomore slump that has plagued former breakout rookies from the NL West like the Diamondbacks Corbin Carroll and the Dodgers James Outman.

If Sunday's performance is a sign of what's to come, Merrill should have no worries about a potential slide in his sophomore season. The 21-year-old showed off his strength on his 443 foot home run, pushing a low cutter very slightly to the opposite field. Notching both of his hits against Lugo, his second being a hard hit single to center off a looping curveball, Merrill looked comfortable at the plate and in his approach.

After an impressive start to his rookie season, Merrill was faced with much more attention from opposing pitchers, who changed their approaches to attack the inside corner against the lefty. Lugo looked to do just that in his second matchup with Merrill, throwing a four-seam, sinker, curveball sequence all on the inside that ended in a single to center. If Merrill is able to consistently get hits off inside pitches, there will be little opposing pitchers can do to get past the center fielder.

Heading into the 2025 season as the MLB's second ranked center fielder, Merrill will look to push past Seattle's Julio Rodriguez for the number one spot. After barely losing out to Pittsburgh's Paul Skenes for last season's NL Rookie of the Year honors, Merrill will surely be hungry to prove he is one of the league's best.