As Jackson Merrill rediscovers himself, the Padres are rewriting their season

SAN DIEGO — In late July, before it seemed clear he was truly back, Jackson Merrill spoke about returning to his roots. The San Diego Padres had just swept three games against the Miami Marlins after their 23-year-old center fielder launched the go-ahead solo shot in the series finale.

It was Merrill’s fourth home run in four games. And yet, after nearly two-thirds of an exasperating season, the youngest of San Diego’s stars was hitting 13 percent worse than league average.

The situation might have suggested the need for an overhaul. Merrill, instead, described a process of simplification.

“I haven’t tried to change my mechanics at all,” Merrill said that afternoon. “I actually feel like I tried to just be myself. Like, swing like I always have since high school.”

Merrill, the Padres’ first-round draft pick in 2021, went on to explain that he had recently watched videos of his teenage self. Screw it, he recalled thinking. I’m going to go to the field the next day and swing like this, see what happens.

The next day, in a blowout win against the Kansas City Royals, he homered twice for the first time since last July.

“I kind of just sort of found the feeling, and I’m just going to ride with it, you know?” Merrill said. “Worst thing you can ever do is change your swing in the middle of it.”

More than two weeks later, the Padres are still in the middle of it. They beat the MLB-leading Milwaukee Brewers 3-2 on Monday night, winning for the 13th time in 17 games and maintaining their position just outside the National League playoff picture. The hero in this series opener resembled the rookie who powered them to a 19-3 run soon after the 2024 All-Star break.

Stay hot, Jackson pic.twitter.com/w2p20ATeR6

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) August 11, 2026

Merrill’s decisive, seventh-inning blast off Brewers starter Logan Henderson drove in first baseman Ty France (who homered earlier in the game) and gave him a home run in each of the past three games. His nine home runs since July 19, that pivotal day in Kansas City, are the most in the big leagues.

“I’m just playing baseball how I know how to play,” Merrill said. “I’m just being myself out there, having fun. Just really excited to play right now.”

His swings might not look much different from only weeks ago, but Merrill has helped rewrite the narrative this summer.

The Padres entered the All-Star break with the league’s worst offense, as woeful underachievers. Since then, they collectively have hit 24 percent better than league average, per FanGraphs.

“The first couple weeks (of the season), it was like we’d be losing 5-0 in the seventh inning, and somehow we’d come back and win those games. And nobody (in the lineup) was playing well,” second baseman Jake Cronenworth said. “Right now, it just feels like a complete game, start to finish.”

San Diego’s recently underwhelming stars have driven this revival. Third baseman Manny Machado has continued his annual march toward 30 or so home runs. Right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. has ignited at the plate. And Merrill is evoking memories of two seasons ago, when so much still seemed possible.

“The way he’s taking at-bats, he can hit about anything out,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “He was really struggling with that high fastball there for a while, and now he’s starting to attack a few of those. He just missed one earlier in the game and it was just at that time of the game where (Henderson) was wearing down just a little bit … and then Jackson puts them away with a homer to dead-center. It was awesome.”

Yes, better swing decisions have helped. So has an end to the overthinking that previously plagued one of the sport’s more swing-happy hitters.

“I’d say just being aggressive, being aggressive in the box, not afraid to swing-and-miss,” Merrill said. “Try to take my walks when I can, but not afraid to swing-and-miss.”

After a first half that called into question the wisdom of his nine-year, $135 million contract extension, Merrill is only one home run away from a 20-20 season. A continued surge would put 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases within reach.

A more modest finish could still put him in rare territory: No Padres center fielder has ever registered a 25-25 campaign.

“I think the struggles he had earlier in the year was him (wondering), ‘Am I doubting myself, or am I just working through a funk?’” Stammen said. “And I think every player goes through that at times in their career where they wonder if they’ll ever be as good as they were before. And I think it shows you how tough this game is, and then also when you come back out of it, you realize, ‘Man, I can tackle about anything.’”

Merrill wasn’t the only Padres player to demonstrate some hardiness Monday. Trade-deadline acquisition Casey Mize, coming off a career-worst outing in his team debut, allowed a second-inning walk and a subsequent home run, then settled in to complete six innings of two-run ball. Freddy Fermin, arguably the league’s worst-hitting catcher in the first half, doubled to continue his recent productivity at the plate. He also threw out two would-be base-stealers, the second to end the game.

Yet no player has rebounded this season quite like the Padres’ youngest hitter. His inexperience, of course, is relative. Late Monday, Merrill again spoke about the not-so-distant past.

“Just one day,” he said, “I just said, ‘Screw it, I’m going back to being like my high school self.’”