“What do you have to say, your analysis of your own offensive struggles so far?” Foul Territory TV journalist Marty Caswell asked Manny Machado after the San Diego Padres’ 5-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night.

“My offensive struggles?… Yeah, struggles, man. It’s been tough,” Machado first responded with a disappointing look on his face, which only got more intense after the follow-up.

“Do you have any theory about what is going on?” Caswell asked, and Machado snapped.

“I’m a baseball player. I’m not a theorist, so… you got something for me?”

A few days ago, Manny Machado sent a strong warning to the league that he still has confidence in his hitting. But that hasn’t translated on the field. With the Padres losing the 2nd game of the series, Machado’s struggles felt real, even though he hit a 2-run homer in the bottom 1st inning. Yet, his BA stood at .182.

Even though the Padres are winning games this season, the offense has become a major concern. Every series seems connected to the same issue, including Manny Machado’s frustrating struggles at the plate.

Machado has historically started seasons slowly, struggling through the first halves of both 2023 and 2024. But this ongoing slump is much worse. On May 19, other than the home run, Machado didn’t contribute much.

In the bottom of the 3rd, he was grounded out to shortstop. In the 5th, he was flied out to right. And then, right at the beginning of the bottom 8th inning, he was struck out swinging, keeping the score tied at 4-4.

But the question that triggered a fiery response was when he was asked about the planning.

Machado directly said that he is not going to reveal anything (to the reporter). All that he mentioned was that he has been working to get better at the plate.

But it looks like whatever Machado is working on is not working right now.

Even on their Wednesday series sweep against LA (4-0), we saw the same pattern.

Grounded out to shortstop in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Popped out to third in the bottom 4th. Again, in the bottom of the 6th, he was grounded out to the pitcher. Finally, struck out swinging in the bottom 9th, keeping his team’s score at 0.

The All-Star player only has seven homers so far. His OPS is also disappointing, .616. This shows that his impact has been very minimal.

His hard-hit percentage has dropped from 51.5% to 43.7%, showing that even when he makes contact, it is weak. He even has a -3 Statcast run value, showing that he hasn’t gotten hits when the team needs him to. But this has been the story of the whole team.

The San Diego Padres have scored an average of 4.17 runs per game and have the worst average in the league at .222. They also have the lowest hits in the league with just 349.

And this raises major questions about the batting coach and the planning behind the scenes.

Yet, Manny Machado defends Padres’ batting coach

With the whole team slumping, the fans are not just questioning the players. But they are also questioning the coaching staff.

Multiple San Diego Padres batters entered this month with disappointing numbers. And all this raised a serious question about what hitting coach Steven Souza Jr. is doing.

Souza has held himself accountable for the same. But Manny Machado came out and defended the coach.

“It’s the players. The players on the field hit or don’t hit.”

Machado noted that the batters are getting all the info and the help they need from the staff, but the players are not able to convert it on the field. But it wasn’t just him who defended Souza.

Padres’ new addition, Nick Castellanos, said, “He has all of the right information. He goes above and beyond to give it to all of us.”

Meanwhile, Castellanos is the perfect example of players not doing their job on the field. Casty is hitting .198 with three homers.

Manager Craig Stammen also refused to shift blame to just the coaching staff and said, “We’re struggling. Who is to blame? We’re all to blame.”

But even with these struggles, the Padres have continued winning because of their pitching.

Their pitching has been decent, with an ERA of 3.93, and has given only 39 homers. With the bullpen doing a fantastic job with Mason Miller leading the charge, San Diego has stayed relevant in the race for the division title.

Now, if the pitching slips up, the Padres have no safety net with the offense, and that is a major concern.