Congrats to Padres rookie center fielder Jackson Merrill, as he is taking home the June Rookie of the Month award for the National League. After seeing his OPS drop down below .700 in May, the 21-year-old got it all the way up to .792 before June concluded.
Last month his power really came on, hitting nine home runs (12 on the year) with a .320 AVG, .651 SLG and .996 OPS. Entering yesterday’s series vs. the Rangers, he was fourth among all NL outfielders in fWAR—only behind Fernando Tatis Jr., Brandon Nimmo and Jurickson Profar.
One of the highlights of his month came on June 12—the series finale against Oakland—where he homered twice including to end the ballgame off of arguably the most talked about reliever in the game this season.