Padres Manager Gets Brutally Honest on Jackson Merrill's Struggles

The San Diego Padres have seen some strange occurrences at the plate from usual contributors throughout the 2026 season.

Stars Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. have both struggled to find any form of consistency, and this has hurt the offense. But outfielder Jackson Merrill has also seen some major offensive problems, which have contributed to the overall concerns.

Merrill has hit .194 with four home runs and 19 runs batted in this year, while putting up an OPS of .576. His numbers have been down all around, and the Padres are trying to work with him to fix the issues.

But Padres manager Craig Stammen did get fairly honest when discussing the struggles of Merrill this season. Stammen understands that Merrill is working hard, but results need to happen from the young player.

"It's similar to what we've kinda talked about all year, he's a little bit over-aggressive, probably," Stammen said. "It's one of those situations where I'm gonna take one down the middle and then the next one he swings at in the dirt. Don't swing, don't swing, and then all of a sudden, you're swinging.

"I know he's working his butt off behind the scenes to try and get better at that."

Padres manager Craig Stammen on what he's seeing in Jackson Merrill's at-bats@FriarTerritory pic.twitter.com/QsEppebLFa
— Marty Caswell (@MartyCaswell) May 27, 2026

While Stammen has been concerned with the swing of Merrill, he has been happy with other areas of his game. Stammen praised the young player for making an impact on defense and on the bases while his offense has struggled this year.

“He’s had a great season, other than hitting,” Stammen said. “He’s played great defense, and he’s run the bases really well. … We feel really good with him playing center field. We believe it’s just a matter of time before he starts swinging with a hot bat. He’s struggling right now, but we’re behind him, and we’ve got his back.”

Merrill was an All-Star for the Padres in 2024, and isn't too far removed from that breakout rookie year. The talent is there for him, but he will need to take a new approach to how he goes about taking swings at the plate.

Merrill's chase rate of 34.2% ranks in the 26th percentile of MLB. His whiff rate of 27.7% ranks in the 35th percentile, while his strikeout rate of 25.5% ranks in the 29th percentile.

Since Merill isn't the only one struggling, some have pointed to hitting coach Steven Souza Jr. as the problem, but the players have defended him thus far. However, something is going to need to change with this team if they want to reach the goal of winning the World Series.

Guys like Xander Bogaerts, Gavin Sheets, and Miguel Andujar can only hold this team up for so much longer before opposing teams adjust. Merrill is a key piece to this roster, so it'll be up to him to make the necessary changes to get his bat going the rest of the way.

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