We've seen the San Diego Padres effectively move a talented shortstop to the outfield and it sure feels like they're trying to do that again. Jackson Merrillone of the club's best prospectswill be investing a great deal of time in the outfield this spring as he competes for an Opening Day roster having much less than 50 video games under his belt in Double-A, the Padres believe in Merrill's talent and think he has the athleticism to discover new settings while getting used to the big organization degree. You may be wondering why the Padres are trying him in the outfield when component of the factor why he's one of the top potential customers in the video game is as a result of the value he brings as a shortstop. As supervisor Mike Shildt recently claimed, there's clearly a requirement in the outfield. "We're going to start with a reasonable quantity of outfield job.. with a mix of facility and the left," Shildt informed the media in Peoria this week. "We have some openings, so he'll get those opportunities. "He might wind up returning to the infield permanent in 2025 if Ha-Seong Kim departs but his best opportunity to play everyday ASAP in the bigs is in the outfield due to the talent currently holding places in the infield. The 2023 team of Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, Ha-Seong Kim and Jake Cronenworth appears to be the infield San Diego is rolling with once more for 2024 and none of those men are relocating to the outfield to make room for a man that's never ever played in the major leagues 's fine with Merrill though, as he wishes to be able to assist at all he can. "I just see it as an opportunity. It's a possibility to assist. We have fantastic individuals around the field already. So whatever setting requires to be loaded https://www.padresshorts.com.. that's what I desire to do. I intend to be an efficient individual on the group.. Do something various daily, try to aid the team win somehow. "The Padres need to love his team-first way of thinking regarding this prospective relocate to the outfield lawn and allow's face it: they probably like he is just one of the beginning outfielders on Opening Diego has around $20 million left to spend, according to Kevin Acee, so that leaves area for most likely just another signing of value. Harrison Bader and Kevin Kiermaier got deals for more than $10 million this offseason and it doesn't appear that the Padres intend to give those sorts of gamers that much money so why must we assume Michael A. Taylor or Tommy Pham will be entering into the Peoria club anytime soon?Let's say the Padres have to invest $10 million on cost-free agent Michael Lorenzen and then they go get experienced Brandon Belt for $5 million, then that leaves them with virtually no area to go get any type of free agent outfielder of relevance. That's where Merrill is available in. The Padres definitely hope he executes well in spring training because he 'd be making virtually nothingwhich is Jackson Merrill Shorts excellent for a team on a budgetand they can say he gained his means onto the lineup like Fernando Tatis Jr. in 2019. We may discover it's still prematurely for Merrill to get the phone call yet based upon the club's scenarios why wouldn't the Padres hope the 20-year-old balls out and makes it on Opening Day?