Padres' Craig Stammen Reveals Biggest Learning Curve as Manager

When the San Diego Padres hired manager Craig Stammen over the offseason, the move was met with some questions around the league. After all, this was someone who had never managed before in his career at any level, let alone the major leagues.

Stammen had been in the Padres organization as an assistant to the major league coaching staff and the baseball operations department. But taking over a team that has World Series aspirations is a whole other level of pressure that he had never experienced.

However, San Diego believed that he was the best person for the job, and the organization quickly rallied around him. So as the MLB season goes on, Stammen is learning on the job — and experience is something that organizations simply can't teach.

But Stammen has held his own so far, and there will be mistakes along the way. The first-year skipper opened up about what his biggest learning curve has been in his brief managerial career.

“I think that’s my biggest learning curve is just wanting to root for the pitcher so hard that sometimes just leaving him in the game a little bit longer than maybe you should," Stammen said.

Stammen was a pitcher in the big leagues from 2009-22, so he understands the stress that comes with taking the mound. But while Stammen may want to have a guy succeed on the mound, managers do have to make tough decisions from time to time.

All players want to stay in the game — even when they are struggling — but saving guys from themselves can be a key part of the player-manager relationship. Learning when to make judgment calls in games will take some time for Stammen, but he is doing his part to improve.

One thing that the Padres manager has done to start learning is that he recaps games, including his own performance. This includes him writing down observations, self-critiques and other points from games in a notebook.

This is a way for Stammen to then be able to reflect on the moments and think about what he could have done differently, if anything at all. While he may not be experienced at managing, he is trying to get better each day, which is all the Padres organization can ask from him.

Since 2020, Stammen has been the fourth full-time manager for the team and fifth skipper overall. It has been a revolving door of managers for this organization, and the team doesn't want to be looking for another one in the next few seasons.

The Padres are hoping that Stammen can stick as the manager, but results on the field will matter the most. San Diego's front office has given him a team that should be able to compete for the playoffs, and now it's up to him to put the players into the best possible positions for success.

If he can do that, he can act as a trailblazer for other former players with no managing experience to get into the role.