Ben & Woods On Demand Podcast

It's Time To Talk To, And About, Jackson Merrill | 'Baseball Isn't Boring'

From 'Baseball Isn't Boring' (subscribe here): There were eight shortstops taken before Jackson Merrill in the 2021 first-round. All but two were, like him, coming out of high school. But none of those draftees from three years ago is making the mark Merrill is in the big leagues, with the 21-year-old starting to establish himself as one of the National League's elite centerfielders after a breakout month of June. Rob Bradford catches up with Merrill to talk about his path, advice he would pass on, and how he is viewing his success. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:: 10m
Broadcast on:: 03 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Yeah there should be some passion this doesn't have to be boring, boring, boring. One thing we can do is use more people like you, you, you. Do I have pro? They're right around tight. Hey! This is looking best at Daniel Bard. This is Stephen O'Hare. Here it's all to the market. This is Brock Cole. Hey this is John Lester. Baseball is in baseball. Baseball is in boring. Welcome to Baseball is in boring. Here's your host Rob Racker. Jackson Merrill is becoming a star. An absolute star. You talk about a guy who was drafted in the first round in the 2021 draft. We just sat on Joss Thine, assistant general manager of the San Diego Padres. Reflect on that draft about picking Jackson Merrill with the 27th overall pick in that draft. A draft that had a ton of high school shortstop and Merrill was one of those high school shortstop. Obviously now playing center field for the San Diego Padres and obviously now really emerging as, like you said, he's becoming a star. You look at what he's done in June or did in June, 996 OPS, 320 batting average and get this nine home runs. He is for a guy who was thrown into it a little bit, started the year opening day as a 20 year old. Well he's emerging as a legit, legit foundation player. So Jackson Merrill seems like a good idea to talk to him. As I said, you go back to the 2021 draft and it really is an interesting one because you have a lot of short stops, a lot of high school short stops, and I'll go down the list here. Number four overall, Marcelo Meyer, doing pretty well in double A was derailed a little bit last year by an injury, but seems to be on the right track. Jordan Waller, he made it to the major leagues. He was drafted six overall by the Diamondbacks, he made it to the major leagues last year by hurt this year. Number 11 overall, Brady House, another high school short stop. Well, he's still considered a top prospect. He was drafted 11th overall as we said, and he's struggling a little bit in double A. Khalil Watson with a Marlin, same thing, struggling a little bit, double A, 16th overall. Matt McLean was a college kid out of UCLA, and obviously he made his mark last year, 17th overall by the Reds, and he's going to be a really, really good player. He's a really, really good player. He's a really, really good player at his heart this year. Drafted 20th overall in the Yankees, Trey Sweeney, drafted 22nd overall by the Whitesized Colson Montgomery, drafted 25th overall by the Athletics Max Muncie, all short stops, all with the exception of Trey Sweeney, who was Eastern Illinois, high school short stops, and then we get to Merrill. Jackson Merrill out of Maryland, a short stop, become an outfielder. So it's been a road. It's been a path. The 2021 draft was just a few years ago, but where we landed, we landed with this version of this player, and we should pause, take a breath, and reflect, and talk about what a good player he's become. All right. Here it is. First level of the conversation, first phase of the conversation was me talking with Jackson a little bit about what he remembered about the draft, advice he would give, again, because it's pertinent with a draft coming up, and also, in fact, as we just said, this guy is the guy who was drafted in the first round. How far he's come, and then the second part was a couple minutes I got with him after he had another really, really big game, I believe it was on Saturday, but I think he'd offer some perspective on his mindset going forward. It's good to talk to Jackson Merrill. Here you go. The Padres up and coming superstar. So when you were leading to that draft, what is the thing that you remember the most in sort of the month leading into it? Anxiety. No anxiety, because I never been like a high anxiety guy. That comes in baseball, it's fun, so definitely different going into the draft, not really knowing what he was going to have and already going through it before, so I think the worst day was the draft, waiting for it, but going into it was a lot of pre-draft workouts like traveling to different stadiums, doing stuff, nothing crazy to do. I didn't really have the craziest route, it was pretty smooth and easy for me. So that draft was, I love that draft, right, because it was a lot of short stuff, right? So many, so you probably know them, your friends with them and follow them and everything else, but what was that dynamic it was like, because they're all good, right? So what was that dynamic like for you? Nothing crazy. I didn't really do too much research in the draft. I just did my part and played baseball, like you're supposed to, you know, I was playing for the draft, I wasn't playing for anybody else, but I was going to play with it. So you know, it's the same thing in high school, it is now you're just trying to go to the field and play the best. It's the same way, it's kind of how I've always been as level-headed, just want to win a game, kind of helps me play better than just trying to play for myself. So you don't figure out where you're going to go, I mean you already try to stay away from that. I had died, I mean I had an advisor, who's my agent now, but like other than that I didn't really look into it too much, I didn't really care. What is the thing that you talk about the day of the draft being crazy? Like I've talked to guys, they've had parties, they've had parties and they didn't get drafted, you know? So what was it like for you? I kind of knew I was going to go on day one to like either cop round or first round, so it was just like when it was going to happen I didn't know, you know, I didn't know if I was going to go to a team before, father's or after just being patient, you know, kind of get that anxiety of like, am I going to get picked like, am I going to get picked? No, I got to want to not get picked, I want to have to do the over with, I want to get done with, I want to get done today. So just sitting there waiting for you all, I wasn't my brother's house. Okay. Was it a party? Not really. No. So there was, they saw on TV obviously, or so you were like this. Yeah. You have to leave. I mean, I can tell you all kinds of draft stories, but... No, I knew when I was going, my agent told me the phone. Oh, he did. Okay. Did you think there was any chance, like we talked about the other short stops, do you think there was any chance of these teams, like for instance, we're sitting here in Fenway Park for the Red Sox or something like, do you think there was any chance of one of these other teams came in? Definitely, definitely. I don't want to say what it seems, but I had one in front of where I went, I thought maybe it was going to go to, but we'll go out and run out and run out of it. And looking back as advice to the people who were drafted, it's only been a few years, but what is the thing that you get and anticipate? Like you think you're a good player, you get drafted. What is the thing that you've learned that, oh man, this is different. Come getting to the major leagues. I don't know, dude, I never thought I'd switch my position two months before my debut and be able to continue and stay and play that position, but that's the only thing I really struggle with. I don't struggle, but it's different. But that's the thing, is that there's no straight path, like we all think, right? You're the ultimate example of that, right? Even it's smooth, but it's definitely not. And I didn't even train center field, I trained left field the whole off season. Did you really? Yeah, I got to just bring training and that's when they were like, okay, you're in center and I was like, oh shit, I didn't do any center field, I was doing left field, but no. I'm happy once I went. Well, you're doing really well, so the last thing is, what advice for the game draft is a couple, whatever, a month, three weeks. What advice would you give those kids? Just keep running. Stay level-headed. Don't even think about the draft. Just going and whatever you're playing with, just go and play the regular game of baseball to play. I think that's the most important thing is showing people how you want to play the game. If you want to play the game, like a swaggy guy, and have to go out there and just be swaggy the whole time, fair enough, do that and that makes you a better player and how you win. If you're a guy, it's going to go out and be gritty and do anything as fast as we can, but you can do that too. People see it all around. They don't care how good you are, how bad you are, if you want to win, when you bring that culture. Are you now into sort of a routine of Major League Baseball of, you know, this is just baseball now or at everything, moments like this mean a little something? I think it's always just in baseball, I don't think of the game as anything else besides what it is. You know, no matter how bad or decent or good I'm playing, I don't think of baseball as anything else but baseball and not only play. We talk about having fun, but this seems to be, on the level of fun, you have fun with a league, you have fun in high school and professional minor leagues, but do you see it might be the height of the fun for you or is it just like you said, this baseball? Yeah, it's just baseball, but at the same time, like, even if you're playing bad and you're having a bad day, like there's so many more people in the world right now that are having worse days than you. Like, if you're complaining about playing a major league baseball game, I don't know what to tell you, you know, there's no reason you can play it. I mean, if you're doing bad, I get it, it sucks, like, it's mentally a grind, but at the same time, like, you're in such a better position than so many other people are, so I'm just grateful for the ability to play through God and just play through this game. Can I ask you, I mean, I have to ask, does someone give you that perspective or, you know, obviously that's something you're upbringing and what you've learned along the way? I mean, the game wouldn't be the game without your teammates, you know, you've got to appreciate everybody in the club else that's helping when games, it's not a me sport, you can't play baseball with one person, you know, it is a team sport, so you just kind of appreciate everybody you got in here and just cherish them, because you're not going to be teammates with them forever. It's been a fun month though, huh? Yeah, for sure, definitely a fun month, but we've been winning this month, like, we've been dominating this month, so, you know, it's the rough stretches that you kind of look back and you appreciate because it keeps you level, you know, when you go on those hot win streaks, it's really, really fun when you go on the low losing streaks, it sucks, but, you know, it's part of the game, we all realize that. Trying to figure out what to eat for dinner yet again? With North Sides and Bullion as you're not so secret ingredient, you can skip the drive through and do dinner at home. North Taste combos provide a menu of delicious, affordable, and well-balanced meals that you can prepare in 30 minutes or less. Visit nore.com to get quick and easy recipe ideas for your Home Cooked Weeknight dinners. It's not fast food, but it's so good.