Jackson Merrill had just returned to high Single-A Lake Elsinore after a lengthy stay on the injured list with a wrist injury. The trade deadline had arrived. He and James Wood and the rest of the Storm were on a bus headed to Visalia when the notifications began pinging on his phone.

Merrill been hurt too long to worry that it was he who was going to be traded for Juan Soto.

But Wood was on fire in the California League.

Of course, the Nationals were going to want him.

“It always gets out on Twitter first — always,” Merrill recalled. “So, now we all kind of saw it and we’re like, ‘Wow, wow, it’s crazy,’ and I’m sitting there. I’m like mad. I’m happy for these guys (in the majors), but I’m mad.

“That’s my best friend.”

These days, the 22-year-old Wood is just about the best thing going for the Nationals. If he’s got any competition at all, it’s two of the other players who went to Washington in the trade that brought Soto to San Diego at the 2022 trade deadline.

The 6-foot-7 Wood’s 21 homers are tied for the sixth-most in the majors. Left-hander MacKenzie Gore leads the National League with 123 strikeouts and the majors with 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings. CJ Abrams was an All-Star last year and has 11 homers, 15 steals and an .836 OPS this year as the Nationals’ regular shortstop.

The Nationals still hope to get production out of Robert Hassell III — who’s back in the minors after debuting in May — and the injured Jarlin Susana.

But it’s Wood, Gore and Abrams who have provided something to truly dream on during the Nationals’ 4-16 slog so far this month.

Just like the Nationals drew it up when they decided to move Soto.

“Look, we lost a very special player in Juan, as we all know, but we gained three really special players,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said Monday afternoon. “You saw another kid that we brought up here, Robert Hassell. Not the last time you’ll see him, either. But the trade worked out for us really well. I mean, these three guys are the cornerstones of our organization.”

In an alternate universe, it might have been Merrill on Nationals’ side of the trade instead of Wood. But Merrill was on the injured list while the Nationals were scouring the Padres’ system and there was an understanding that they couldn’t have both of the Padres first picks from the 2021 draft, two prospects who played with each other in the Baltimore area before they were drafted into the system.

“It speaks to strength of the system that you can trade for a Juan Soto and keep Jackson Merrill out of that trade,” A.J. Preller, the Padres’ president of baseball operations, said in April. “And they still made a great trade, Only time you’re happy a player was on the injured list was at that time.”

Preller added: “We knew we were going to keep Jackson out of that deal — any deal really.”

 

Notable

  • RHP Michael King threw about 25 to 30 times from 105 feet before Monday’s game, the most significant arm work for him since the issue with his long, thoracic nerve surfaced before his May 24 start in Atlanta. He described the intensity of his session on Monday as medium low. “That was the most normal it felt since I got shut down,” King said. “This is a week from the last time I tried throwing and I feel like as long as I feel good tonight and tomorrow, I think it’ll be more of a progression in terms of intensity and distance.”
  • RHP Yu Darvish (elbow) threw a bullpen on Monday. The next step is a sim game on Wednesday.
  • The Padres are still awaiting word on their appeal of RHP Robert Suarez’s three-game suspension, Padres manager Mike Shildt said. A suspension of any length will be easier to absorb if it’s sandwiched around Thursday’s off-day as the team cannot replace a player serving a suspension; the Padres will play those games with 25 players and 12 pitchers instead of 26 and 13, respectively.

Annie Heilbrunn contributed to this report.

Originally Published: June 23, 2025 at 6:40 PM PDT