Padres announce minor-league staff that includes former longtime pitcher
As the offseason winds down, this is the time of year when a lot of housekeeping announcements happen, with the San Diego Padres being no exception. Front office and coaching staffs are generally finalized ahead of spring training to give everyone time to get up to speed before having to report for duty.
Some teams undergo more changes than others depending on if guys move on to opportunities elsewhere or if there's a massive change at the top of the organization. With AJ Preller still at the helm of the front office. the Padres' announcement of their 2024 minor league staff saw a bit of shuffling as well as a couple new faces.
Craig Stammen joins Padres front office in minor league operations shakeup
The biggest news here is that former Padres hurler Craig Stammen, who just retired due to a shoulder injury, was brought in as a special advisor with a focus on player development. It seems like San Diego's player development advisors are being set up where a group of former big leaguers (Stammen is joined by Allen Craig and AJ Ellis in the role) will be generally around to help both in the majors as well as provide counsel to prospects as needed. Stammen had been helping out this winter already and this just finalizes that arrangement going forward.
A couple of members of the Padres' big league coaching staff did get moved down to the minor leagues with hitting coaches Scott Coolbaugh and Oscar Bernard taking up general minor hitting development positions for 2024.
Nothing else really changed at the front office level from last year, but there was some movement in the minor league coaching staffs as Pete Zamora was named manager of the Padres' Triple-A affiliate after managing the Low-A team in 2023. Lukas Ray is getting bumped up from rookie ball and is replacing Zamora, while Luke Montz will stay as manager of the Double-A Missions.
With a ton of talent coming up through the minor leagues at the moment and a critical transition for the organization underway, one hopes that these moves by the Padres ensure that the talent pipeline keeps pumping out guys who can elevate the team over the next few years.