The San Diego Padres are heading into the 2024 season with a new manager in Mike Shildt. Their former manager, Bob Melvin, departed for the San Francisco Giants after the 2023 campaign, and Shildt will pilot a major league team for the second time in his managerial career.
Shildt has already made a positive impression on several of his players, including Manny Machado.
In an interview with Ben and Woods of 97.3-FM on Wednesday, the star third baseman explained how new manager Mike Shildt brings the attitude the San Diego Padres need:
“This year it's all about, ‘when they're coming to our house, they're coming to our house.' And this is ours, you’ve got to take it from us. We’re not going to give it to you. You’ve got to fight for every little inch you want. Shildty’s made it clear. We do have the right guys. We just needed the guy who was going to lead it, the guy who was going to be that guy. He has that F-you mentality. It’s something that we needed here.”
— Padres third baseman Manny Machado, via Ben and Woods
After the Padres fell short of expectations in 2023, this kind of attitude will be important. Despite all their talent a season ago, the Padres could not get it done in the regular season, failing to qualify for the playoffs.
They lost some of the talent they had a year ago, but the Padres now appear to have a manager who speaks the language the players need to hear.
If Shildt is able to instill this kind of "ours" mentality into his team, it could give the Padres the clubhouse culture they were missing in 2023. Shildt and the Padres get to put this to the test when they make their regular season debut on March 20 in Seoul, South Korea.
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