SAN DIEGO (AP) — Outfielder Jackson Merrill has been placed on the San Diego Padres' 10-day injured list as he recovers from a sprained left ankle.
The Padres put Merrill on the list Saturday for the third time this season, making this move retroactive to Aug. 20. The club will make a corresponding roster move Sunday, manager Mike Shildt said.
The Padres made the move before they surged into first place in the NL West with a 5-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Petco Park. San Diego has won five straight without Merrill, who has missed their last six games since Aug. 17 after spraining his ankle last weekend at Dodger Stadium.
“I’m just proud of our boys,” Merrill said. “They’re grinding it out right now, and I can’t appreciate them more.”
While Merrill is frustrated by the pace of his recovery, he believes he'll be ready to play on Tuesday or Wednesday.
“I want to play right now,” Merrill said. “I think these aren't must-win games, but they're very fun games to play in. I was just really excited and looking forward to this week, but we're winning, and that's all that matters.”
San Diego waited to make the roster move until it was clear Merrill couldn't get fully healthy within the 10-day window. Merrill and Shildt said the outfielder wanted to play through the injury, but the Padres elected to be cautious.
“It's been in flux the last couple of days,” Shildt said. “Jackson had a willingness to go out and play a little compromised, and I feel like he could definitely do it ... but we looked up and did the math, and if he's ready for (next week), he can go ahead and do his rehab, and we feel like it's his best opportunity.”
Merrill has been moving with a limp since he rolled his ankle at the plate on Aug. 15, also incurring a bone bruise. He still played in two more games before sitting out.
Merrill is batting .261 with nine homers and 51 RBIs this season after finishing as the runner-up for the NL Rookie of the Year award in 2024. He hasn't been able to maintain his formidable rookie production in his sophomore season, with his OPS dropping from .826 to .729, but he has remained a steady offensive contributor and an excellent defender in center field.
Merrill also spent time on the injured list this season with a hamstring problem in April and a concussion in June.
“It's been really up and down,” Merrill said. “It's all flukes, and I don't think there's much I can control besides getting better. I'm just going to focus on the future right now.”
Ramón Laureano has replaced Merrill in center, and Gavin Sheets has taken over in left field. Laureano delivered a key two-run single in the fourth inning of the Padres' victory Saturday.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB
San Diego Padres' Jackson Merrill, right, is congratulated by third base coach Tim Leiper (33) after hitting a home run against the San Francisco Giants during the eighth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — A New York prison guard who failed to intervene as he watched an inmate being beaten to death should be convicted of manslaughter, a prosecutor told a jury Thursday in the final trial of correctional officers whose pummeling, recorded by body-cameras, provoked outrage.
“For seven minutes — seven gut-churning, nauseating, disgusting minutes — he stood in that room close enough to touch him and he did nothing,” special prosecutor William Fitzpatrick told jurors during closing arguments. The jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon.
Former corrections officer Michael Fisher, 55, is charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Robert Brooks, who was beaten by guards upon his arrival at Marcy Correctional Facility on the night of Dec. 9, 2024, his agony recorded silently on the guards' body cameras.
Fisher’s attorney, Scott Iseman, said his client entered the infirmary after the beating began and could not have known the extent of his injuries.
Fisher was among 10 guards indicted in February. Three more agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges in return for cooperating with prosecutors. Of the 10 officers indicted in February, six pleaded guilty to manslaughter or lesser charges. Four rejected plea deals. One was convicted of murder, and two were acquitted in the first trial last fall.
Fisher, standing alone, is the last of the guards to face a jury.
The trial closes a chapter in a high-profile case led to reforms in New York's prisons. But advocates say the prisons remain plagued by understaffing and other problems, especially since a wildcat strike by guards last year.
Officials took action amid outrage over the images of the guards beating the 43-year-old Black man in the prison's infirmary. Officers could be seen striking Brooks in the chest with a shoe, lifting him by the neck and dropping him.
Video shown to the jury during closing arguments Thursday indicates Fisher stood by the doorway and didn't intervene.
“Did Michael Fisher recklessly cause the death of Robert Brooks? Of course he did. Not by himself. He had plenty of other helpers,” said Fitzpatrick, the Onondaga County district attorney.
Iseman asked jurors looking at the footage to consider what Fisher could have known at the time “without the benefit of 2020 hindsight.”
“Michael Fisher did not have a rewind button. He did not have the ability to enhance. He did not have the ability to pause. He did not have the ability to get a different perspective of what was happening in the room,” Iseman said.
Even before Brooks' death, critics claimed the prison system was beset by problems that included brutality, overworked staff and inconsistent services. By the time criminal indictments were unsealed in February, the system was reeling from an illegal three-week wildcat strike by corrections officers who were upset over working conditions. Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed National Guard troops to maintain operations. More than 2,000 guards were fired.
Prison deaths during the strike included Messiah Nantwi on March 1 at Mid-State Correctional Facility, which is across the road from the Marcy prison. 10 other guards were indicted in Nantwi's death in April, including two charged with murder.
There are still about 3,000 National Guard members serving the state prison system, according to state officials.
“The absence of staff in critical positions is affecting literally every aspect of prison operations. And I think the experience for incarcerated people is neglect,” Jennifer Scaife, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, an independent monitoring group, said on the eve of Fisher's trial.
Hochul last month announced a broad reform agreement with lawmakers that includes a requirement that cameras be installed in all facilities and that video recordings related to deaths behind bars be promptly released to state investigators.
The state also lowered the hiring age for correction officers from 21 to 18 years of age.
FILE - This image provided by the New York State Attorney General office shows body camera footage of correction officers beating a handcuffed man, Robert Brooks, at the Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County, N.Y., Dec. 9, 2024. (New York State Attorney General office via AP, File)
