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While San Diego Padres star Jackson Merrill has landed on the injured list this week, one MLB insider has compared his mindset to New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter.
The 21-year-old took the MLB by storm in his rookie season last year, which earned him a nine-year contract extension worth $135 million last week. He has already won the hearts of San Diego fans in his short time in the major leagues and his winning mentality has a lot of similarity to Jeter's during his time in New York.
Merrill started his MLB career with the San Diego Padres last year and finished the season as an All-Star player with a second place in the Rookie of the Year voting.
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While he was eligible to explore free agency after four more seasons, the outfielder chose to make a long-term commitment to the Padres instead. This has endeared him even further to the San Diego fans and revealed a lot about his character.
Speaking on Thursday's episode of "MartyTimeTV," MLB insider Buster Olney compared Jackson Merrill's mentality to that of Derek Jeter, saying:
(3:40 - 12:13)
"He has great competitive arrogance, he reminds me a lot of Derek Jeter... It's funny because Derek Jeter always knew when he played you that he was going to win. He had the absolute confidence that no matter what the situation was, he was going to figure it out and win.
"Other great players don't all have that... Derek knew that he was going to beat you and that's what jumps out at me about Jackson... The idea that they're going to go to him in his rookie spring and say, hey what do you think about playing center field? And he's like, yeah no problem."
Olney picked out the similarity between the two, saying:
"And about the confidence, about Jackson after a loss... Derek Jeter, the other player we talked about, in 2001 the Yankees had won three straight World Series. They get beat in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 in 2001... The one person in that clubhouse who was furious was Jeter. Like he was so mad that they didn't win, he couldn't believe it. There was a rage there and the way you described Jackson, it doesn't surprise me. I think there's a common denominator there."
A week after signing a new contract with the Padres, Jackson Merrill now finds himself in the IL due to hamstring tightness. The youngster has played a huge role in his team's strong start to the season and will be hoping to return to action soon.
Padres manager Mike Shildt gives an update on Jackson Merrill's hamstring injury
After being placed in the 10-day IL, further tests on Jackson Merrill's injury have revealed that the injury is not serious. Giving an update on the injury, San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt said (via 97.3TheFanSD):
"At the moment, it doesn't appear to be anything overly serious. It wasn't a traumatic effect that caused it."
In Merrill's absence, the Padres have managed to win their series over the Athletics this week. They will face the Colorado Rockies over the weekend before facing the Chicago Cubs next week.
