Padres Coaching Notes: Niebla, Fritz, Bench Coach
San Diego landed on Craig Stammen as its new manager this week. The 41-year-old doesn’t have any prior coaching experience, but he’ll be able to lean on a familiar face for at least a couple of seasons. Dennis Lin of The Athletic reported that pitching coach Ruben Niebla has two years left on his contract. Lin also noted that Niebla was the other finalist for the skipper job.
Niebla has been the Padres’ pitching coach since 2022. Stammen was actually a member of Niebla’s first pitching staff. The pair crossed paths in the right-hander’s final season in the league. Niebla was one of three known finalists for the managerial position, along with Albert Pujols and Nick Hundley. Shortly after news broke of Stammen’s hiring, Alden González of ESPN reported that Niebla was expected to remain on the staff.
The revelation that Niebla is under contract for the next two seasons provides further confirmation that he’ll be around to help the inexperienced Stammen. He isn’t the only holdover that will be on the staff beyond 2026, either. Lin noted that while teams had expressed interest in bullpen coach Ben Fritz, he recently received a new multi-year deal. He has been on San Diego’s staff since 2020.
Retaining Fritz gives Stammen another former coach in his corner. Fritz was the bullpen coach for Stammen’s final three seasons in San Diego. He also briefly served as pitching coach, taking over for the fired Larry Rothschild to close the 2021 season, before returning to his bullpen coach role. Fritz has been in the organization since 2015.
Stammen will also have to deal with some departures. Hitting coach Victor Rodriguez is expected to go to the Astros. He’d served in the role with San Diego for the past two seasons. Third base coach Tim Leiper is expected to take the same position with the Mets. Leiper had also been in the position for the past two years.
The personnel on the roster may factor into future hiring decisions, as Lin noted that “some around the team believe the Padres need to add a coach who can naturally connect with Machado, Tatis and other Latin American players in the clubhouse.” Lin added that bringing on a bench coach who’s managed at the MLB level would also be valuable.
Image courtesy of David Frerker, Imagn Images.
Padres Finalize Coaching Staff
The Padres announced their 2025 coaching staff on Friday evening. The most notable development is that Brian Esposito has been named bench coach. San Diego operated without a bench coach during Mike Shildt’s first year at the helm.
Esposito, 45, had already taken some of the traditional bench coach responsibilities. His prior title had been game strategy assistant. He’ll continue to work as one of Shildt’s top lieutenants. A former catcher who appeared in three MLB games amidst a 13-year professional playing career, Esposito has worked in the San Diego organization for the past three years.
The rest of the staff is as follows: pitching coach Ruben Niebla, hitting coach Victor Rodriguez, third base coach/infield instructor Tim Leiper, first base coach/outfield instructor David Macias, assistant hitting coaches Pat O’Sullivan and Mike McCoy, game planning assistant Peter Summerville, bullpen catcher Heberto Andrade, and coaching assistant Morgan Burkhart. Niebla, one of the game’s most respected pitching voices, inked a multi-year extension last month.
Aside from Esposito’s title change, there’s only one adjustment. Former field coordinator Ryan Barba is no longer on the coaching staff. AJ Cassavell of MLB.com writes that Barba is expected to remain with the organization in the player development department.
Padres Promote Ryan Christenson To Associate Manager
The Padres announced their coaching staff for the 2023 season this afternoon. There are a few shakeups for Bob Melvin’s second season leading the San Diego dugout.
Ryan Christenson has been given the title of associate manager. The 48-year-old joined Melvin in making the jump from the A’s to the Padres last offseason. Christenson had been Melvin’s bench coach in Oakland from 2018-21 and took on that same role for his first season in San Diego. He now earns a bump in title to associate manager, though his position as Melvin’s top lieutenant seems unchanged.
Filling the role of bench coach is Ryan Flaherty, who’s going into year four on the San Diego staff. He also gets the title of offensive coordinator, essentially taking on the hitting coach duties vacated when Michael Brdar was poached by the Tigers at the start of the offseason. San Diego will go without anyone assuming the traditional “hitting coach” title.
The 36-year-old Flaherty has spent the past two seasons as a quality control coach. He drew interest from the Mets in their bench coach search last offseason, but the Friars denied New York’s interview request. One year later, the former Orioles infielder gets both that title and the lead hitting responsibilities in San Diego.
He’ll be joined on staff by assistant hitting coaches Scott Coolbaugh and Oscar Bernard. The 56-year-old Coolbaugh joins the Friars after two years as the lead hitting instructor with the Tigers. He’d also previously served as hitting coach in Baltimore and Texas and an assistant role with the White Sox. He brings plenty of coaching experience to help Flaherty in his first crack as offensive coordinator.
Bernard, meanwhile, gets promoted to the MLB staff after seven years as San Diego’s minor league hitting coordinator. The 39-year-old spent some time as a player and instructor in the Cubs’ minor league system before joining the Friars in 2016. It’s the first big league staff job for the Dominican Republic native. Also joining the group is catching coach Brian Esposito. The 43-year-old spent last season managing the Friars’ Low-A affiliate in Fort Wayne.
The rest are holdovers from last season. Ruben Niebla is back for a second year as pitching coach, pairing with bullpen coach Ben Fritz. Matt Williams and David Macias will coach the bases and defense — Williams the infield, Macias the outfield — with Peter Summerville and Herberto Andrade as coaching assistants. Former big league managers Bryan Price and Mike Shildt will reassume the advisory roles they manned in 2022.