Padres split role of traditional bench coach in three; Machado making progress toward full return from elbow surgery
The Padres do not have a bench coach, at least not officially. What they have is three coaches — Brian Esposito, Ryan Barba and Mike McCoy — doing parts of one job during games. Similar to how they pioneered the title “associate manager” in 2020, the Padres now have introduced the titles “game strategy assistant” and “major league field coordinator.
” This is a step beyond what they did before. When Skip Schumaker was named associate manager in 2020, it was understood he was essentially serving in the role of bench coach. The same goes for Rickie Weeks of the Brewers, the only other MLB team to not list a bench coach on their staff this season. What the Padres have done is add layers while increasing efficiency. Maybe it’s reinventing the wheel. Maybe it’s the absolute best use of resources. The Padres believe it’s the latter. “It might be unique within the industry,” Barba said. “But at the same time, everybody understands their role. They understand in-game what we're doing, and we all kind of work together as a unit. ... We all have our roles. It just makes it to where you still have people watching the game, managing the game, while also taking care of preparing our guys to make sure that they're ready to go execute what's about to happen.” In its simplest terms, the Padres have split up and expanded the duties of the bench coach. Esposito, the game strategy assistant, is the closest person to being a bench coach. He mostly remains at manager Mike Shildt’s side as a second set of eyes, sounding board and reminder. What he does not do is be the gofer that a typical bench coach sometimes must be. When the Padres need to get a player ready to pinch-hit or pinch-run, it is McCoy or Barba who finds the player and spends time with them going over the game situation and things to know and remember. “That way I don't lose that person, which I have historically,” Shildt said. “You say, ‘Hey, would you get so-and-so ready to run, so-and-so ready to hit?’ And then that same person is also going to help remind me about something in the running game. And now he’s gone to the cages to get this player who’s in the clubhouse and find the other guy and can't find him, and I look up and he’s not there. Now I’ve got 'Espo' always right there. “It’s always gotten done-ish. But now you’ve got one person that goes to one player and says, ‘This is what this is, what you're going to look for.’ And they can take their time and talk about and prep him for it.” Barba has the title of major league field coordinator and plays a key role along with first base coach Dave Macias in devising the Padres’ running game plan. So when Barba is asked to find a player to go in to run, he can easily also prepare the player. The same goes for McCoy, one of two assistant hitting coaches, with batters. Assistant hitting coach Pat O’Sullivan and assistant Morgan Burkhart are generally in the cage with players and aren’t as intimately attuned to the game situation. “We all just kind of do what needs to be done, and we work together,” McCoy said. “It’s a good collaboration.” Coaching titles sometimes differ from team to team. And the Padres did not go into the offseason thinking they would do away with the bench coach title. It was after they assembled the staff and started figuring out roles that they came up with the new structure. “Once we looked at it and got past the traditional looked at it big-picture,” Shildt said, “it started making a lot of sense.” Manny Machado has progressed to throwing to second base after fielding grounders, and the Padres are hopeful he can play third base by the end of April. “He’s tracking in a good place,” said Shildt. Shildt called it “a loose goal” that Machado would make his season debut by the end of the month. The Padres play their 33rd game of the season on April 30. Machado, who had the extensor tendon in his right elbow repaired in October, is serving as the Padres' designated hitter while building up his arm strength and endurance to the point he can play third base. He is playing catch at 90 feet but has yet to throw across the diamond to first while working in drills. Last week, he was not even throwing to second from his spot at third.
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