The Pirates star's rookie season was very similar to Jackson Merrill's “historic” season

San Diego Padres rookie phenom Jackson Merrill has emerged as a possible candidate to win the National League Rookie of the Year award. The Pirates, on the other hand, have the current favorite to win the award in Paul Skenes, who capped a historic rookie season with two ridiculous innings on Saturday at Yankee Stadium.

Merrill? His numbers weren't exactly unprecedented. There was another rookie outfielder a few years ago who put up similar numbers to Merrill.

In 2019, Bryan Reynolds finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting with a comparable season to Merrill, who some believe should win this year. Let's take a look at how close these outfielders' rookie seasons were.

How close were the rookie seasons of Pirates star Bryan Reynolds and Padres rookie phenom Jackson Merrill?

A prominent difference between these two players is their approach at the plate. Reynolds had a walk percentage of 8.4%, while Merrill's 2024 percentage was just 4.9%. On the other hand, Reynolds had a 22.2% strikeout rate and Merriill finished with a 17% strikeout rate. He puts the ball in play but always tries to swing it.

The ability to run more helped Reynolds post a .377 on-base percentage. Additionally, he had a .314 batting average and a .503 slugging percentage. All three of those stats were better than what Merrill put up this year, as he finished with a .292 batting average, a .326 on-base percentage and a .500 slugging percentage. Very similar, but Reynolds comes out on top in each of these categories.

Merrill had 24 home runs, 90 runs batted in and stole 16 bases in 162 games during the Padres season. All of these totals were higher than Reynolds' statistics He finished with 16 home runs, 68 runs batted in, and just three stolen bases (under a different regime of MLB rules and base sizes, to be fair). In doubles, Reynolds had a lead with 37 points over Merrill's 31 points. They achieved the same WRC+ rating of 130, which is well above average.

Defensively, Merrill finished with a higher OAA of 11, while Reynolds only posted 2 OAA. However, the defensive runs saved were reversed as Reynolds had seven and Merrill had none.

Overall, these two outfielders were very similar in their rookie seasons. Although they were very close statistically, there were different levels of freshman competition in their first few years, resulting in Reynolds finishing fourth and Merrill potentially taking home the hardware. Should but him?