Padres Manager Takes Responsibility for Hitters Not Feeling Comfortable Yet

The San Diego Padres' offense was a little shaky to kick off the 2026 season. Through the first five games of the year, San Diego only averaged 2.4 runs per contest.

However, over the last five games, something has clicked, as the Padres have averaged five runs per contest. San Diego has simply played better baseball over the last few games, with the team going 4-1 during this span.

But even with the improvement, it doesn't seem like the San Diego offense has fully clicked in the way many expected them to this season. Manager Craig Stammen has taken some responsibility for the Padres' slow start this season at the plate.

“I’ve been — we’ve been — moving the lineup around quite a bit,” Stammen said on Monday. “So they’re probably not super comfortable yet. But sooner or later, we’re gonna get to the point where they’re very comfortable where they’re hitting.”

The first-year manager has moved guys all around over the first few weeks, trying to find a nice rhythm for the lineup. Baseball players, like any athletes, tend to have routines that, when broken, can impact performance very heavily.

So for the Padres' hitters, knowing where and when they will be hitting could be playing into everything. But it seems that San Diego is slowly figuring everything out, and it has resulted in the improved play over the last week-plus.

Stammen taking the responsibility should go over well with his players. But overall, the players themselves aren't overly concerned with the poor offense to start, with star infielder Manny Machado brushing off the struggles last week.

“Not frustrating at all,” Machado said at the time. “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.”

Machado finally hit his first home run of the season against the Boston Red Sox over the weekend, and there is hope this can spark something. As long as the players are putting together strong at-bats, the results should come for this team.

On the season, Machado has struggled a little, hitting .226 with one home run and four runs batted in. Fernando Tatis Jr. has been even worse for San Diego, hitting just .189 with zero home runs and three runs batted in.

While the Padres' two best players have struggled, there is hope for this team, and everything seems to be slowly rounding into form for San Diego. If the offense continues to break through the rest of the season, the Padres could make some serious noise in the National League.