Jackson Merrill signed a team-friendly contract extension that keeps him on the San Diego Padres for the next nine seasons as he now shifts his focus to the next generation.

Lawyers from the MLB players union did not want Jackson Merrill to accept the San Diego Padres' extension offer.

One week before his second big-league season, Jackson Merrill hinted at what was coming. It was a warm evening at the Padres’ spring training complex. A breeze was blowing. The weather, for late March in Arizona,