ESPN didn't just hand Jackson Merrill a compliment this week. It handed the Padres a standard.
In Buster Olney's annual ranking of MLB's top 10 center fielders for 2026, Merrill checks in at No. 5 — already loud for a player still early in his big-league story. But the real juice is the sentence tucked underneath the ranking: with a full, healthy season, Olney writes Merrill "might well challenge" Julio Rodriguez for No. 1 on the list next year.
That's the thrilling part. That's also the pressure.
Padres' Jackson Merrill just got a thrilling ESPN bump that instantly raises expectations
Because the ranking is basically ESPN saying they see the idea that Merrill can become the center fielder in the sport. And for the Padres — a team that's been living in the space between "contender" and "please don't blink" — a true superstar in center changes everything about their ceiling.
But Olney also lays out why the Merrill hype comes with a little teeth: he hit the injured list three different times last season (hamstring, concussion, ankle) and still put up a .774 OPS, 112 OPS+, 47 extra-base hits, and 59 runs in 117 games. That's impressive… and it's also a reminder that the Padres haven't actually gotten the full Merrill experience yet.
And that's where the pressure lives. The Padres need the version of Merrill who removes interruptions — because "challenge Julio for No. 1" isn't a vibe, it's a workload. Rodriguez is No. 1 here for a reason, coming off a season where he posted a .900 OPS after the All-Star break and slugged .560, with 18 of his 32 homers coming in that second-half stretch. That's the bar Merrill is being invited to clear.
This ESPN prediction should make Padres fans grin. It also quietly dares San Diego to treat Merrill like what he's becoming: the kind of player you build correctly around — health plan, lineup plan, everything.