After last season, something had to give for the San Diego Padres. The club finished third-last in team home runs with 152, ahead of only the Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Then came the news that hitting coach Victor Rodriguez left the Padres to take the same position with the Houston Astros. To replace him, new manager Craig Stammen brought in former Washington Nationals teammate Steven Souza Jr. to bring the ‘slam’ back to ‘Slam Diego.’
What Changed for San Diego?
Six years ago, the Friars’ offense took the sport by storm when the team set an MLB record for most consecutive games with a grand slam, garnering them the nickname ‘Slam Diego.’
For a stretch of four days in August 2020, the Padres couldn’t not hit a grand slam. Fernando Tatis Jr., Wil Myers, Manny Machado, and Eric Hosmer each hit one, and the club has yet to replicate that level of production in the last half-decade, with 2025 marking a low point in power hitting.
The problem is that San Diego has power up and down their lineup. It would be one thing if the Padres had contact-only players, but they don’t. Between Tatis Jr., Machado, and Jackson Merrill, there’s an expectation for home runs that, for whatever reason, isn’t being met.
Souza Brings a Shift in Philosophy
That’s where Souza comes in. A philosophic change at the plate is something that Souza has brought to the forefront of his discussions with the press. While speaking to Padres’ beat writer, AJ Cassavell, Souza said that “Controlling the zone is a big part of that…picking the pitches that we want to do damage on.”
And that’s the most important thing that Souza has been preaching to the club this spring: it’s not about going to the plate looking to homer every single time, it’s about hammering mistakes when they happen, and being intentional about it.
The hope is that San Diego can continue to utilize their contact-oriented approach to their advantage to get runners in position, and then they can mash to bring the runners across home plate.
Welcome Changes This Spring
One of the underappreciated sights of this spring has been the Padres’ offense looking healthy as can be. Granted, spring games are difficult to gauge because most of the players are not MLB-caliber starters. But the new ‘Souzan’ hitting philosophy has been pervasive nonetheless.
Across the first seven games of Cactus League play, the Friars have scored 44 total runs, with 13 of those coming from the long ball. That equates to roughly a 29.6% chance of Padre runs being a result of a home run.
For reference, San Diego scored a total of 702 runs in the 2025 regular season. If they had managed to keep that percentage of home runs throughout the season, they would have clubbed 50 extra long balls, resulting in roughly 208 home runs (as opposed to the 152 they finished with).
The even greater part about this is that these aren’t just solo shots. One of the problems with the Padres’ home runs last year was not being able to maximize damage when baserunners scored. A majority of the Friars’ bombs came as solo shots.
So far this spring, those 13 runs came on eight shots, with Machado hitting a two-run homer and a grand slam in yesterday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds, coupled with a two-run shot from Jose Miranda in the spring opener against the Seattle Mariners last Friday.
Can It Translate to the Regular Season?
Thus, the biggest question remaining is whether or not San Diego can bring their spring power-up into the games that matter. In four short weeks, the club will face the Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal and test their mettle against the reigning AL Cy Young winner.
Hopefully, the Padres and Souza can continue to piece it together until then. If they can, it would mark a return to the offensive powerhouse that once resided in Petco Park, putting San Diego squarely in the hunt for the World Series title it has sought for all of club history.
Main Photo Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
