Padres’ Craig Stammen’s surprising lineup strategy will leave fans asking questions

Story by

Chris Spiering, ClutchPoints

Wed, Apr 15, 2026 ·

2 min read

Padres’ Craig Stammen’s surprising lineup strategy will leave fans asking questions appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .

The San Diego Padres are one of the hottest teams in Major League Baseball. They have won six straight games and nine of 10 after beginning the season 2-4. Now, the Friars are 11-6 on the season, which is good for the second-best record in baseball behind the Los Angeles Dodgers , something most teams are accustomed to.

The Padres’ offense struggled out of the gates, but they are starting to figure things out quickly. San Diego is crushing the ball at the plate, but it just has not always resulted in a hit or, even better, an extra-base hit.

Despite these advanced stats in San Diego’s favor, the Padres as a team are 15th in OPS at .698, 17th in home runs with just 16, and 20th in total hits at 131. The Dodgers lead the league with 29 homers and a .281 batting average. SD is at just .233. However, the Padres are just two games back of the back-to-back champs.

Padres’ manager Craig Stammen is changing things up every game, keeping the opposing teams guessing when it comes to his lineup decisions. In all 17 games this season, Stammen has issued a different lineu p. It is very rare that you see that, especially if you watched the Padres last season. Former manager Mike Shildt hardly ever changed the lineup, keeping it the same for the majority of the season. San Diego had one of the worst offenses in the league last year, being near the bottom of the league in slug and home runs, similar to how they are now.

The Padres do have more depth and slug potential with this 2026 roster and lineup, and slowly but surely, it’s improving.

The Padres take on the Seattle Mariners for Game 2 on Wednesday night after Xander Bogaerts led the way in the series opener.