Jackson Merrill takes playful jab at former Padres prospect James Wood after big hit

For the San Diego Padres, Jackson Merrill has been one of their greatest success stories this season. He came into spring training as one of the better infield prospects in the league, but the problem was that the Padres already had too many infielders, which made playing time for Merrill a challenge.

However, San Diego needed help in the outfield and Merrill seamlessly transitioned to the position despite his youth and is now considered to be one of the best young players in baseball.

Funny enough, Merrill has been taking the field this week against one of the other best young players in baseball in former Padres prospect James Wood, who he happens to know very well going back to their little league days having played on some of the same teams.

Wood only recently made his big league debut with the Nationals, so when Merrill cranked a double over Woods' head in Wednesday night's game (during which he went wild), he made sure to poke a little fun at Wood afterwards.

Padres' Jackson Merrill jokes with former top prospect James Wood

To be clear, this was all in good fun between two friends. Merrill got a center-cut fastball and cranked it. Maybe if Wood was playing further back, he might have been able to make a play on the ball, but it isn't like something egregious happened fielding-wise here. However, Merrill giving Wood the "play back" gesture after the hit was high comedy.

Baseball needs more fun rivalries like this. Anthony Rizzo and Freddie Freeman have had similar back and forth over the years, and Ronald Acuña Jr. basically will mess with anyone who is willing to have some fun, but a lot of the rivalries we see these days are when grumps like Will Smith decide to throw shade at Jurickson Profar for no reason (and then pay the price for it).

Having some villains is good for the game. Trash talk within reason is great as long as it doesn't escalate to guys getting plunked because of the "unwritten rules of baseball." Having players who know each other well and are willing to throw friendly digs at each other create unlikely, fun rivalries that could last years. Merrill's moment in the sun was a delight and if Wood gets ahold of one against the Padres, hopefully he responds in kind.

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