Throughout the season the CBS Sports MLB experts will bring you a weekly Batting Around roundtable breaking down pretty much anything. The latest news, a historical question, thoughts about the future of baseball, all sorts of stuff. Last week we discussed Shohei Ohtani's pursuit of the first ever 50-50 season. This week we're going to pick between baseball's many Jacksons.
Which Jackson would you want to build your team around?
Matt Snyder: I think Jacksons Holliday, Merrill and Chourio are all going to be stars in this league for an extended period of time. Holliday handled his demotion and return very well and Chourio has been amazing as he's gotten fully acclimated to the league. I'm going to go with Merrill, though. To put together the full season he already has at age 21 is particularly impressive. Plus, let's keep in mind he did so in the face of a position change during spring training. He had mostly been a shortstop but did get five games in left field in Double-A last season. He only had 46 games of experience above Class-A overall, and he still hit the ground running in the majors as a center fielder and has put together a season with a nice power-speed combo, good batting average and highlight-reel plays both in the field and at the plate in clutch moments. The immense upside we can see in his talent in addition to the veteran-like pedigree he's shown all year are what gives me the confidence to choose him here.
R.J. Anderson: Hey, don't forget about Jobe, either. I think all three of the Jacksons in question are going to be above-average contributors for the long haul. I'll grant that Chourio and Merrill feel like "safer" picks than Holliday right now, and the reality is they both might end up being better in the long haul. Nevertheless, I'll go with Holliday if only so I can write that people are being too quick to punt on him. We're talking about a 20-year-old in his second full professional season; it's OK for him to scuffle a bit, and it might even end up being beneficial for him in a weird way. (Failure is the best teacher.) Besides, Chourio himself is a good example of how an extended lousy introduction to the majors doesn't have to be more than that, and how talent tends to win out in the end.
Dayn Perry: Tough call. On the one hand, Holliday was a slightly more highly regarded prospect coming out of the minors, and he mans a middle-infield position. On the other hand, Chourio is roughly 100 days younger and was promoted to the majors after barely any time at Triple-A. As well, Chourio has solidly out-performed Holliday at the highest level thus far and done so across a larger sample of games. He's also a better base-runner. I'll lean Chourio in a close call.
Mike Axisa: This is one of those "no wrong answers" questions. I think all three will be great players in this league for a long time. Holliday is probably the "correct" answer given his prospect pedigree, but I love Merrill, so he's my pick. I loved him as a prospect coming into this season and he's shown more power than I expected this early in his career -- he has 23 homers in 142 MLB games after hitting 21 homers in 200 minor league games -- plus he's handled the move to center field well, and don't forget he skipped over Triple-A entirely. The cards were stacked against him and Merrill has still managed to put together an All-Star season. I'd be happy with any of the Jacksons. Force me to pick one though, and I'm building my team around Merrill.