Padres' Craig Stammen Sends Message to Hitters Amid Major Struggles

San Diego Padres manager Craig Stammen had a message for his hitters, who have struggled to start the 2026 season.

On Wednesday, the Padres defeated the San Francisco Giants by a score of 7-1. The lineup seemingly came to life after looking sluggish in their first five games.

In the series finale against their National League West rival, the Padres had finally broken through and recorded a season-high in runs and hits. The offense scored more than three runs for the first time in 2026.

While the Padres lineup made progress Wednesday, things took a turn for the worse Friday in the series opener against the Boston Red Sox. The Friars earned a 5-2 loss at Fenway Park while the first five hitters in the lineup combined for zero hits. That evidently makes it hard to win games.

Moreover, the Padres' two runs in the fifth inning came with some help from the sun, turning a Miguel Andujar flyout into a one-out triple.

🔺5th | 0-2 • SD 0, BOS 2

SD - Miguel Andujar triples (1) on a fly ball to center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela.

🚀 95.9 mph • 356 ft • 25°
⚾️ 85.3 mph Sweeper (Sonny Gray)
📅 4/3/2026 #OpeningDay 📹 statsapi pic.twitter.com/yzybGe29HY
— Paul☘️🇺🇸 #МVРеаrсе⚡ (@WayneTrain25MVP) April 3, 2026

Stammen is hoping he can provide the right motivation and mindset for his lineup, a group that showed its potential Wednesday but crumbled by Friday.

“One is just trust themselves,” Stammen said. “Trust what they’ve done in the past — who they are as people and who they are as hitters. And I got complete confidence that they’re gonna be just fine.”

Stammen also revealed whether or not he thinks his hitters are pressing. He's adamant that a positive voice in the clubhouse is paramount to getting batters to take good swings and have quality at-bats.

“I’m sure that’s natural for every hitter to hit line drives and then not get a hit and then look at your average on the scoreboard and then want to press a little bit,” Stammen said. “But we got to keep preaching to them that they’re swinging well, they’re hitting the ball hard and that eventually they’re going to fall.”

Padres star Manny Machado also relayed he wasn't concerned with the sluggish start on offense because each hitter has been taking good at-bats.

“Not frustrating at all,” Machado said earlier this week when asked about his frustration to start the season. “It would’ve been frustrating if we weren’t having good at-bats. … We’re hitting the ball hard, having good at-bats as a group. Obviously, we would like to score more runs. Obviously. But the at-bats are there.”

There was a bright spot amid the Padres' loss in Boston as Luis Campusano recorded a hit, which no longer put him in possession of the longest hitless streak in the major leagues (35 at-bats and 580 days).

Luis Campusano's last hit in Major League Baseball was 580 days ago. It was August 31, 2024.

This has to feel SO GOOD for the former Padres top prospect looking to finally stick in MLB.pic.twitter.com/h9YL3KFngo
— Padres On SI (@PadresOnSI) April 3, 2026

If the top of the lineup continues to struggle, the bottom of the order will have to find ways to produce at a consistent level. Campusano, who had previously been a liability, could be a key contributor for the Padres as a majority of the lineup continues to struggle.

The Padres fell to 2-5, but will look to turn things around over Easter weekend.

Stammen is deploying a much different lineup for Saturday's game.