After a breakout rookie year, rising star Jackson Merrill hopes a World Series title is next

After escaping elimination in the National League Division Series against a San Diego team they considered their toughest October competition, the Dodgers scampered toward the pitcher's mound to celebrate in front of their home crowd. Minutes into the revelry, the visiting Padres dugout had emptied, save for a 21-year-old who stayed behind to survey the scene. 

Jackson Merrill's arms hung over the railing as he looked stoically ahead. He wasn't ready for the Padres' year to end. 

"I don't want to feel that feeling again," Merrill said, recalling the moment this spring. "So I was taking in as much as possible, you know? Take in as much as possible, that feeling, so you can avoid it the next time." 

Entering his second year in the big leagues, Merrill is ready to turn the page — certainly from the way 2024 ended, but also from the extraordinary success that was his first year in the big leagues. 

"It was fun," Merrill said, "but it's all said and done with." 

At this time last year, Merrill was a 20-year-old shortstop prospect getting an opportunity few saw coming in center field, a position he had never played at any level. Talent evaluators liked his athleticism and ability to hit to all fields. The power, some figured, might eventually follow as the top-20 prospect strengthened and packed weight onto his 6-foot-3-inch frame. He finished the 2023 season with a .770 OPS and 15 home runs between High-A and Double-A.

A year later, he would wrap up a 2024 All-Star campaign with an .826 OPS and 24 home runs in his first season in the big leagues, winning a Silver Slugger Award and finishing ninth in MVP voting as the Padres' starting center fielder. 

"Some of the things we thought were coming in the future, he went and did it