The San Diego Padres had a great year in the regular season, winning 90 games and earning a wild-card berth. A lot of Padres had great seasons, but any season that ends early has some painful disappointments, with players who will be looking to have bounce-back season.
AJ Cassavell of MLB.com tagged center fielder Jackson Merrill as the player the Padres need to have a bounce back season, which is an interesting choice for sure. Merrill did have his share of health issues, but there’s some controversy about him being the right choice.
Start with Merrill. He did struggle with concussion-related issues, and Merrill always seemed to be nicked up. Down the stretch, however, he was one of the Padres strongest performers, and you can make a pretty good argument that San Diego wouldn’t have made the playoffs at all without his contributions.
What the Padres do need more of from Merrill is power. Merrill had 16 home runs this season despite dealing with multiple injury issues, and it’s natural to expect him to get over 20 this year given a healthy season.
He had 24 the year before, and he’s going to hit more as he fills out and continues to learn the league. A 30-home run season isn’t out of the question with Merrill, and that would certainly represent a bounce-back season, albeit not according to the traditional definition of that.
But how about Fernando Tatis Jr.? He, too, might seem like an odd choice, given that he earned another Gold Glove and gave the Padres outstanding production from the top of the lineup. It’s hard to want more from a player like that, but you can certainly make the argument based on one other factor.
Tatis was terrible in the playoffs. There’s no getting away from it, and it’s one of the biggest reasons the Padres ended up losing to the Chicago Cubs in the Wild Card Series. Tatis was shut down completely, and the outfielder looked totally lost as the Cubs pitchers continued to stymie him.
That simply can’t happen again, assuming the Padres do make enough moves to get into the postseason again. Tatis is the one big-contract player who’s still in the prime of his career, and he needs to have something close to a career year. We’ve seen him carry San Diego in the postseason before, and he needs to return to form and then some this year.