The San Diego Padres were one of the last teams to announce their manager for the 2024 season.
They weren’t actually prepared to enter the offseason while looking for a skipper, but the San Francisco Giants took Bob Melvin away from them (without much resistance, to be fair) and they were forced to begin an unexpected search.
That search took them to numerous interviews with potential candidates.
They certainly took their time, but the Padres finally have their new skipper.
Padres insider Dennis Lin stated that an announcement would come today, and MLB insider Jon Heyman made it official: Mike Shildt is the new Padres manager.
The Padres plan to announce Mike Shildt as their new manager today, sources tell The Athletic.
— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) November 21, 2023
Mike Shildt has been hired as Padres manager
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 21, 2023
The 55-year-old baseball man had a recent managerial experience leading the St. Louis Cardinals from 2018 to 2021.
In those four seasons he made the playoffs three times, winning one NL Central crown in 2019.
In that year, Shildt led the Cards to the National League Championship Series, where they were swept by the team that would go on to win the World Series, the Washington Nationals.
He compiled a 252-199 record with a .559 winning percentage.
Before that, he acted as a Cardinals scout and manager in their minor league system.
He served as their first base coach in 2017.
The Padres hired him ahead of the 2022 campaign, to help in player development role.
He had to start the season as the Padres’ interim third base coach after Matt Williams had hip surgery during spring training.
The Padres wanted someone who has led a team before, and Shildt’s time in front of the Cardinals gave him a pretty good resume.
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