Manny Machado projects confidence slow start will turn, same as always
SEATTLE — He by no means got here near being defensive or aggravated.
He by no means referred to the again of his baseball card. He didn’t declare it might all be tremendous as a result of he is (expletive) Manny Machado.
But that was the vibe as he calmly mentioned his principally terrible first 6½ weeks of the 2026 season.
“I’m five hits away from hitting .240,” he stated on Friday afternoon, his math off barely however not sufficient to quibble about. “I’m not worried. … Still 500 at-bats left. A lot of baseball.”
After going 0-for-7 within the first two video games of the Padres’ sequence towards the Mariners, Machado is batting .182 with a .604 OPS.
Both numbers are the bottom in his profession (by rather a lot) by 43 video games.
“I guess I’m lucky it took me 15 years,” he stated. “I guess I’m a lucky man.”
Machado repeated one mantra a number of instances on Friday.
“We’re winning ballgames,” he stated. “That’s most important.”
Indeed. The Padres’ 7-4 victory over the Mariners on Saturday improved them to 27-18.
That can also be a improvement as fascinating as it’s each encouraging and worrying.
Machado modified the Padres into winners when he arrived in 2019, and in the course of the first 5 years of their renaissance, his efficiency decided way over every other participant how usually they received. But he’s not essentially a bellwether anymore.
From 2020 by ’24, they had been 99-19 when he drove in not less than two runs, 114-50 when he had a number of hits and 84-32 when he homered.
That the Padres went as Machado went was much less of a rule final season, as they had been 17-6 when he had not less than two RBIs, 32-15 when he had a number of hits and 17-10 when he homered in 2025.
This yr, he has been a big a part of some victories. Just not as many. The Padres are 3-1 when Machado has a number of RBIs, 5-1 when he has a number of hits and 4-1 when he has homers.
“It’s never easy to suck,” he stated “But we’re winning ballgames, which is most important. At the end of the day, it’s about what the team needs. Right now, that’s what the team is doing. We’re winning ballgames. I will keep working on trying to get hits.”
As he spoke, he leaned again inside his locker and slipped on fluorescent inexperienced batting gloves. He would a couple of minutes later start a protracted session within the batting cage with hitting coach Steven Souza Jr. watching him work.
As Machado famous, he possible does have about 500 at-bats remaining in his fifteenth MLB season.
There is in that sentence rather a lot to consider relating to the previous and the longer term for the participant who turns 34 in early July.
This is just not the primary time he has been struggling this far right into a season. This is just not the primary time he has been failing to do harm on fats pitches much more usually than he ought to or normally does. This is just not the primary time we now have puzzled if age has begun its last assault on his candy swing.
And then he proves he’s nonetheless the Manny.
Fact is, numbers which have him on monitor for eventual Hall of Fame enshrinement have been amassed over a profession filled with streaks.
He has been near this dangerous at this level in earlier seasons. He has gone deeper into seasons in funks.
Yet he has by no means completed a full season with an OPS decrease than .739 or a batting common decrease than .256. He has hit not less than 27 dwelling runs in 10 consecutive seasons (besides the covid-shortened 202 marketing campaign). He has been, on the finish of all however one of many previous six seasons not less than 22% higher offensively than the typical MLB participant, in line with the metric wRC+.
“Listen man, it’s a little bit of unlucky, there’s a little bit of, you know, (mechanical) stuff going on,” Machado stated. “Just a little bit of everything, I mean, it’s baseball. We’ve been facing some really good pitchers, and it’s kind of tough to get yourself into the rhythm. But hey, I’ve seen it for a long time. It isn’t going to sustain. You’re going to get out of things.”
To be clear, Machado is just not the one Padres star not hitting.
Fernando Tatis Jr. is homerless and seems to be going backward in his method. Jackson Merrill has two hits in his previous 30 at-bats and is one other 0-for-5 day from becoming a member of Machado under .200.
“We’re going to hit,” Machado stated. “I have no worries that we’re not going to hit. We’re great hitters. We’re up here for a reason. We are who we are for a reason. It’s just a matter of time for us to break out again and to get rolling, and it’s going to be fun when we do it. It’s going to be even better. It’s been amazing to be a part of this so far, and where we are right now, and we really haven’t been contributing.”
Without hesitation, he then transferred the evaluation to at least one Padres star specifically.
“So when I do,” he stated, “it’s gonna be just that much better.”
Machado has a historical past, too, of bursting out of prolonged slumps after speaking about them publicly.
On Saturday night, after drawing his first stroll in eight video games and making one among his outs on a 109 mph line drive, Machado handed a reporter within the clubhouse, the same one who had questioned him the day earlier than.
He turned again, grinned and stated, “It’s coming.”
