Stammen’s wife Audrey and their four kids (Chase, Summit, Ty and Cece) attended the press conference as did his parents, Jeff and Connie, and his brother, Brent.
“Obviously, family is a big part of who I am and what I believe in,” Stammen said. “I’ve got a lot of my family here today. Audrey was a big part of this decision, and without her, this would not have been a yes. She was all in — excited. Couldn’t have been more on my side. So I’m very thankful for her. I’m blessed to have an amazing wife.
“Then we have four beautiful kids that are going to be right by my side in this whole thing. I can’t wait to hug you guys after the games — win or lose. That’s probably the most favorite thing I had as a player, and now I get to experience it as a manager also."
The Padres announced the hiring of Stammen, 41, on Thursday. He spent the last six seasons of a 13-year big-league pitching career as a reliever with the Padres. In recent years, he has worked for the Padres as a special assistant to the general manager.
Fans, media members and everyone outside the process were surprised by the Padres decision to hire Stammen because he has no coaching experience in the big leagues.
“It’ll be a challenge, for sure,” Stammen said. “I’ve got a big learning curve ahead of me.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Stammen said he would work hard in the offseason with Padres general manager A.J. Preller and assistant general manager Josh Stein to prepare for the 2026 season. He also said he would lean on staff members who do have experience, such as pitching coach Ruben Niebla.
“The best part about this Padres organization is the people that we have and how great they are at all their jobs,” Stammen said, “and I’m going to rely on all those people. This isn’t a one-man Craig Stammen show. I’m going to rely on a lot of people to have my back and create processes that lead us to a championship.”
Stammen first joined the Padres in 2017, though they tried to sign him in 2016 when he was working his way back from an injury. Stammen signed with Cleveland instead and pitched in the minor leagues that season.
The Padres did sign him in 2017. Preller saw a pitcher with the “ability to throw strikes, change speeds and field his position.” He also saw attributes that led to Stammen getting the manager’s position.
“He was an elite competitor, an incredibly hard worker, very prepared and a natural leader,” Preller said, “and somebody that, as a pitcher, was able to touch different elements of our clubhouse and bond and connect with different players in that clubhouse.”
While Stammen worked as a special advisor to Preller in recent years, Preller kept asking him, “Would you like to do more?” Living in Ohio, Stammen’s family duties prevented him from committing to a bigger role.
Then, as Preller interviewed managerial candidates this fall, he pitched Stammen on becoming a candidate himself.
“My immediate thoughts are to my family,” Stammen said. “We can’t make that happen. We can’t move them out of school and move them from Ohio to California. Yeah, I would love to do this in my core. But there’s a lot that goes into making that decision. And so that started the process. Audrey and I had a lot of conversations. We prayed a lot. We fasted about it. We kept having conversations with people that we care about and know that can give us good advice.
“And then A.J. is a part of that, too. He’s pumping me up and continuing to believe in me, and Josh had that belief, too. If they didn’t have that strong belief, I probably would have not gone down the path as strongly as we did. Eventually it got to the point where it was a yes for us. We made some family decisions to make that happen, and then once we made that decision, there was a peace and a joy that came with it. It’s an opportunity that there’s no way that I could say no to.”
Stammen will now manage players he had as teammates in 2022, including All-Star third baseman Manny Machado and ace pitcher Yu Darvish.
“The most exciting part about the job is I have real relationships with all these guys,” Stammen said, “and we’ve done some things together. We’ve had a lot of shared experiences of good things and bad things. I’m going to lean on those guys and those experiences to make this Padres team great.”
Stammen’s years in the bullpen also prepared him for this role.
“One of the advantages of being a relief pitcher and viewing the game from that lens is you’re always monitoring when the pitching changes are coming,” Stammen said, “and especially in the role, I had to be ready from pitch one to the end of the game. If you look at my career, I probably pitched in every inning of the game in all of those seasons. Viewing it from that lens, constantly watching the game, constantly watching the starting pitcher, having an idea of how the manager manages the game, how he likes to deploy his bullpen, I have an advantage in that realm.”
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