Padres to extend Jackson Merrill

Padres agre Jackson Merrill On a nine -year contract extension which guarantees the star $ 135 million, according to a report by Robert Murray de Fandedated. The agreement can be maximum at $ 204 million and includes a club option of $ 30 million for a tenth season which can be converted into a player option. The outfit is represented by KHG Sports Management.

Merrill’s break in 2024 was an incredibly impressive part of the 2024 season. It was not completely out of nowhere, because Merrill was a first round choice, selected 27th in the general classification in 2021. It was one of the best hopes in baseball during his stay with minors. However, at the end of the 2023 season, his experience was still limited. He was drafted from the school, which means that he had not played the university ball. Its minor league history included only 200 games. None of these elements was at the triple-a level and only 46 were double-A. He would not celebrate his 21st birthday before April 19, 2024.

In addition to his youth and inexperience, the Padres asked him to make a major defensive change. He had mainly been a final stop among minors, but the brothers had Ha-seong kim And Xander Bogaerts in their center-champ. In the central field, Trent GrishamThe bat fell and the paadres sent him to the Yankees as part of the Juan Soto agreement. The paadres tried Merrill there in the spring, liked the results and gave it the work.

Despite his talents, he would have been understandable if there were growing pains for a guy so young and learning a premium defensive position on the fly. But no pain of this type was obvious, as Merrill prospered. He struck 24 circuits for the Padres last year. Its 4% walking rate was low, but it also maintained its stick withdraws from a 17% clip. Its shot line .292 / .326 / .500 translated by a 130 WRC +, indicating that it was 30% better than the average of the league. He stole 16 bases in 19 trials. Sauvée defensive races considered it the average of the league in the center, not thinly given the circumstances. Even more impressive, it was credited with 11 withdrawals higher than average, a brand that placed it in the first ten of Center Fielders last year.

The overall whole was very strong. Fangraphs awarded him 5.3 victories over the replacement and the baseball reference 4.4. It would have made him a slam-dunk recruit of the year for many seasons, but Merrill was against Paul Skenes And its incredible beginnings. Merrill obtained seven out of 30 votes in first place and finished second behind Skenes.

More to come …