The San Diego Padres may have traded away one of their biggest pieces of last season in Juan Soto, but their outfield has remained in good hands, thanks to the contributions of rookie center fielder Jackson Merrill. Merill has had quite a good rookie year, but it's his stellar play in the clutch that has endeared him to fans. On Wednesday night, Merrill once again played a lead role in a Padres' victory — a 9-8 nailbiter over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

With one out in the ninth inning and facing Pirates closer David Bednar, Merrill showed that he has the clutch gene embedded within him. He took a high 98-mph fastball from Bednar — the first pitch of the at-bat — to deep right-center field to tie the game, and in so doing, he became just “the first player with multiple multi-homer games that also included a game-tying or go-ahead HR in the 9th or later at age 21 or younger”,  according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com.

Back on June 14, Jackson Merrill had his first multi-homer game with a clutch dinger in the ninth inning. He scored the Padres' first run of the game during that day with a solo shot, and he punctuated proceedings with another solo homer in the bottom of the ninth to give San Diego a 5-4 win over the Oakland Athletics.

Every win is crucial right now for the Padres. At 63-52, they remain in a strong position to make the playoffs via the wild card. But they will need to take care of business in any way they can so they could hold off the other teams that are in the hunt, and Merrill certainly did his part.

Jackson Merrill, Padres hero, shows the poise of a veteran

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Watching how Jackson Merrill conducts himself on the plate and on the field, it would seem as though he has been in the big leagues for 10 years. But Merrill is only in his first year in the MLB, and he's only 21 years old as well. He has not let his youth and lack of experience slow him down in any way, as he has emerged as one of the best rookies in the MLB, if not the outright favorite to win the Rookie of the Year award.

On the year, Merrill is slashing .288/.318/.467 to go with his 15 home runs and 59 runs batted in. The next step in the 21-year-old center fielder's development will be to get on base more often, but that should come with plenty more reps at the plate.