San Diego Padres' Rookie Set to Make Incredible Baseball History This Week

Merrill, a converted infielder, is going to make great recent baseball history, becoming just the third player in the last 50 years to be starting in centerfield on Opening Day before the age of 21. He won't be 21 until April 19.

Per Bob Nightengale of USA Today:

He could become only the third player in the last 50 years to start in center field on opening day before the age of 21, joining Ken Griffey Jr. and Andruw Jones. 

Quite an accomplishment considering Merrill has never played a game at Triple-A, and never a game in center field in his entire life, not even in Little League.

“The eye test says it looks pretty darn good,” Padres manager Mike Shildt told reporters. “He’s an athlete, he’s a baseball player, he’s a get-it-done guy.’’ 

Merrill is the No. 12 prospect in baseball entering the 2024 season. He hit .277 last season in the minor leagues with 15 home runs and 15 stolen bases.

The following comes from his MLB.com prospect profile:

Batting from the left side, Merrill uses an all-fields approach to pepper the ballpark with base knocks while protecting the plate. He doesn’t whiff often for his age and experience with an 8.1 percent swinging-strike rate that ranked 10th-best among qualified full-season Minor Leaguers aged 20 or younger in 2023. He did a better job of elevating balls last season, cutting down his ground-ball rate from 59.6 percent to 42.5, and that helps the belief that he’ll settle into above-average power later in his 20s.