Padres’ Craig Stammen makes first big statement with two bold coaching hires

Craig Stammen hasn’t managed a single game for the San Diego Padres yet, but he’s already putting a clear stamp on his dugout. The rookie skipper has filled two of the most important seats on his staff, pairing a veteran bench coach with a modern hitting voice that both tie back to his own playing days.

The Padres are turning to Randy Knorr as bench coach and Steven Souza Jr. as hitting coach, two very different résumés that intersect neatly with Stammen’s past. Knorr is the steady hand. He spent four seasons as the Nationals’ bench coach from 2012–15, the same stretch that covered Stammen’s final years in Washington’s bullpen. 

New Padres skipper Craig Stammen sends early message with aggressive coaching hires

Knorr has worn just about every hat an organization can offer: bullpen coach, first base coach, catching coordinator and advisor on the player development side. Before all that, he logged parts of 11 big-league seasons behind the plate with six different clubs, giving him credibility with pitchers, catchers and position players alike.

He’ll slide into the role previously held by Brian Esposito, who is staying in the organization in a yet-to-be-announced capacity. 

Souza, meanwhile, represents the more “bold” part of the equation. This is his first big-league coaching job, but he’s hardly been away from the game. After wrapping an eight-year MLB career and retiring midway through the 2022 season, Souza dove headfirst into teaching, running his own baseball instructional program in the Northwest and spending the past year as a special advisor for hitting development with the Rays.

There’s also some shared history between the two. Stammen and Souza also overlapped briefly with the Nationals in 2014, when Souza broke into the majors. That offseason, he was part of the three-team trade that famously sent Wil Myers to San Diego and Trea Turner to Washington.

Souza replaces Victor Rodriguez, who exited to become the Astros’ hitting coach. That alone tells you what kind of responsibility the Padres are handing the newcomer: this isn’t a low-profile gig. If San Diego’s offense finds another gear under his watch, he’ll get a lot of credit.

The staff isn’t completely set yet — the Padres are still believed to be closing in on a third base coach to replace Tim Leiper, who joined the Mets — but the foundation is clear. Stammen is surrounding himself with people he knows and trusts, blending old-school experience with newer-school hitting ideas.