Rise of Severna Park's Jackson Merrill to Major League Baseball started with family support

SEVERNA PARK - Jackson Merrill is living his dream come true. The Severna Park native has made Major League Baseball's Opening Day roster for the San Diego Padres.

Jennie Merrill, Jackson's mother, recalled that major announcement she received this spring.

"So, I run outside and we're all on Facetime and he says, 'Your boy is a big leaguer."

Merrill, a 2021 first-round draft pick, has batted .351 with two home runs and six RBIs this season. However, it was the family support that's helped fuel his rapid rise to the big leagues. 

Baseball memory lane

When Josh and Jennie Merrill walk past the baseball fields at Kinder Park in Anne Arundel County, it's a stroll down memory lane.

That's where Jackson first played baseball as a little leaguer. In fifth grade, when asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, he wrote, "MLB Baseball Player."

Finally, at 20 years old, he has accomplished his life-long dream.

The Padres open their season ahead of the rest of the league, in South Korea Wednesday morning, against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Jackson Merrill's family has supported him throughout his journey - through Little League and his home run as a high school all-star in a game at Oriole Park.

Merrill graduated from Severna Park High School and made it to the show in less than three years, which is a remarkable feat for rising baseball prospects.

Making the San Diego Padres

He can swing away in major league parks as a San Diego Padre now.

"He was determined," Jennie Merrill said. "He said, 'I'm going to make it, I'm going to be a big leaguer, this is going to be my year.' And we're like, 'alright.' And when Jackson has it in his mind that Jackson's going to make it, it's going to happen. He has that sheer determination and inner kind of confidence that if he's going to do it, he's going to do it. We're watching it happen like, 'Oh my gosh, he really is doing it.'"

"When he got drafted, we sort of knew he's got a chance to make it in the pros at the major league level but he's done it faster than we thought," his father Josh Merrill said.

Coach 'Dad' Merrill

Josh Merrill knows his son well. He coached his youth teams, and those lessons linger.

Jackson said his dad taught him it's not OK to strike out as a hitter and that he was raised to make contact with the baseball during an era in which some players are fine with striking out.

"It's just that little motivation. That's all you need, just that little bit of spark to get him going and he does it," Josh Merrill said.

"Always had to work the hardest"

He's been the youngest on all of his teams," Jennie Merrill said. "His birthday is April 19, the cutoff is April 30. So he's always had to work the hardest. He's always got to be the best. He's got to be as good as the other guys, or even better." 

Jackson Merrill is among the youngest in Major League Baseball as he enters his rookie year.

His parents recall how the journey started on the youth fields of Anne Arundel County -- travel ball, early mornings, long drives and memories for a lifetime, with more to come. 

"It's like pure joy, it's pure joy with him," Josh Merrill said. 

Merrill family dream come true

"We talked about it the last couple of days, we feel like we're waiting for somebody to go, pinch and wake us up because this is like a big dream and it's hard to describe isn't it?" Jennie Merrill adds.

Josh and Jennie Merrill are both school teachers. Josh teaches in Arbutus and Jennie teaches in Severna Park.  

They cannot travel to South Korea to see their son's Major League debut but they will be watching on television, which begins at 6 a.m. local time. 

The Merrill family has already mapped out all the games they will travel to see when the Padres return to the U.S., which includes games at Camden Yards against the Orioles in July.