Padres Hire Ex-Pitcher Craig Stammen As Next Manager

He pitched for San Diego for six seasons.

Craig Stammen, not far removed from his playing days, will manage the Padres in 2026. / Orlando Ramirez-Imagn Images

The Padres are reportedly keeping their managerial job within the organizational family.

San Diego is hiring front-office assistant Craig Stammen as its next manager, according to a Thursday morning report from Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Stammen, 41, pitched for the Padres from 2017 to '22.

In 2024, Stammen assumed a baseball operations role with San Diego focused on player development.

Born in rural Ohio, Stammen pitched collegiately for Dayton before the Nationals drafted him in 2005. After several up-and-down years shuttling between the rotation and bullpen, he broke through as a reliever for the Nationals' first playoff team in 2012.

He spent seven years with Washington and six with the Padres in all, and now will be tasked with injecting life into a San Diego team that disappointed in 2025. The Padres went 90–72 but failed to advance out of the wild-card round; since their ballyhooed postseason return in 2020, San Diego hasn't gone farther than the NLCS in Stammen's last season.

The Padres will open Stammen's first season on March 26 against the Tigers.

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