Now that it's been a few days since the Padres fell in the WC series, I'm interested to read what the consensus on this sub would be toward keeping or firing Victor Rodriguez.

Some might argue the offensive struggles fall squarely on the players/our superstars and that Victor oversaw a way better offense last year with many of the same personnel with no qualms whatsoever.

Others might argue the hitting struggles were a coaching issue due to a change in philosophy/approach that zapped the lineup of power, which became a major weakness that not only stuck around all season, but became pervasive throughout the lineup.

Victor Rodriguez is the 13th hitting coach since Petco Park became the home of the Padres in 2004.

11 comments

  2. The players definitely deserve a lot of blame but there was also a flawed/outdated hitting approach this season that I feel like really hamstrung the offense. I doubt Shildt will make a move because I think this is the offense he wants but I think they for sure need a new hitting coach

  3. I think something has to change this offseason from a coaching perspective. The offense is what held us back all year. Bottom 5 in slugging, struggling with runners in scoring position, a weird obsession with the bunt and small ball. Because of this, I think Rodriguez needs to be the fall guy, it very well might not be his fault, but Shildt has to be feeling some heat and should try his best to show that they are trying new things to bring success into the building, especially since the new owner isn’t wanting to make a huge splash in Free Agency. Tatis, Machado, and Merril have some natural slug in them, just need to have a guy who can bring that back out.

  4. I know it’s an unpopular opinion, but I love the philosophy he’s brought to the team and hope we keep him. High contact teams are fun to watch. Tweaks can be made but the foundation is there. We need less bunting and looser controls to tap into existing power, especially on 0 and 1 strike counts with our big bats.

  5. Need a new hitting coach with a new hitting philosophy that focuses on slug.

    It literally can’t be more obvious

  6. While I want to blame VR for all the trouble slugging – this was a team that never had much pop outside of Tati, Manny, Merrill, and maybe X to begin with. Replace Arraez with Schwarber, get Ramon and Fermin for a full season, and hope for more from Crone is a perfectly reasonable approach to 2026.

  7. The argument that it “falls squarely on the players” isn’t very convincing to me when it’s as team-wide issue. This is a team that, based on the lineup, should have been in the top half of the league in SLG, not towards the very bottom.

    Neither is the argument that Vic oversaw a better offense last season. Baseball is a game of adjustments for both the players and the coaching staff.

    I don’t know if it falls ALL on Victor. I do know that there must be some accountability in the org for the terrible 2025 offense. To underperform offensively to such a degree is an organizational failure, especially in a year where this team had the BP they needed to make a run. I think the org had a broken offensive philosophy for this season. I also question if our players are getting the best scouting reports/data on the opposition.

    I do think Victor should go just to get a fresh mindset for next season in, but probably not just him. There probably needs to be a big shakeup in the org’s analytics department as well.

  9. Everybody seemed to like him in 2024…

    Im not saying he is a good or bad hitting coach but I don’t put a lot of weight in the fire-the-hitting-coach tactic after the revolving door in SD with this role.

  10. The thing that pisses me off about Vic is that he doesn’t seem to tailor to each player’s strengths. He wants the whole team to be low-strikeout, contact, center of the diamond, pass it onto the next guy type hitters, when some guys just aren’t built for that. When I see a guy like Nando getting middle-in hanging sliders and he’s pulling his hands in and inside-out swinging trying to hit into right field it drives me bananas. It’s one thing to preach patience and contact, it’s another thing to put those as all-important and more valuable than slugging, especially when we have slug hitters. It’s like he’s constantly trying to put the square peg in the round hole, and it’s sapping the power out of their swings. I don’t think he’s a good fit for this group of players. 

    On the other hand, we have a guy in Niebla who is the perfect coach. He works with every pitcher individually and seems to get the best version out of them based on their strengths.  

    We have proven hitters on our team; we don’t need someone to overhaul the entire team approach. We just need someone who knows how to isolate the specific skills of the guys and make them more consistent/able to avoid month-long slumps

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