San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado has made multiple changes to his stance for the 2026 season. Over the first 24 games, he has made three significant changes to his approach, indicating he is trying to hit to the opposite field.

The Changes

1.Manny Machado has closed his stance to 29 degrees open, the most closed of his career. 2.Machado has moved further back in the batter’s box to 28.1 inches deep, his deepest yet.

3. Manny Machado has changed his swing direction from focusing on pulling the baseball (hitting it toward left field as a right-handed batter) to trying to hit the baseball to the opposite field (right field). 

From 2023 to 2025, Machado’s average swing direction was one degree toward the pull side. Over the first 24 games of 2026, his swing direction has shifted to four degrees toward the opposite field.

These approach changes let the ball travel farther before contact. Machado used to intercept the ball 6.7 inches in front of the plate (2023-2025); in 2026, the intercept point is 1.2 inches behind the plate.

Machado likely made these changes because teams threw the nearly of their pitches to the outer half—3,538 pitches from 2023 to 2025, 48.3% of all offerings. He hit 218 with 22 home runs.

Results

Although I understand his reasoning for better positioning on outside pitches, early results show these adjustments haven’t worked. Manny Machado is currently hitting .147. His struggles with outside pitches have also been affected by his performance on inside pitches.

He’s hitting .222 on inside pitches over the first 24 games, compared to 291 with 26 home runs over the previous three seasons.

This production decrease is likely due to the later intercept point. On April 14, 2026, he faced Bryan Woo of the Seattle Mariners. In the third inning, Bryan threw a sinker in zone eleven. He waited until the pitch was 2 feet away before starting his swing. As a result, the ball hit near the handle and caused a pop-up.

As a result, his pop-up rate is up to 10.2%, highest since 2020, and his barrel percentage is down to 3.1%, a career low. This sequence of events is the catalyst behind him hitting .195 with 2 home runs and 11 RBI.

I recommend that he return to his previous hitting approach, which is tailored to hitting the inside pitch. Defaulting to his previous approach means moving up in the box and opening up the stance angle.

From 2023 to 2025, he stood 24.3 inches deep in the box and had an average stance angle of 40 degrees open. As mentioned above, these elements helped him intercept the baseball earlier.

The earlier intercept point played a role in his success against inside pitches.Although he has a better career, Manny Machado is facing similar mechanical issues as New York Yankees third baseman Ryan McMahon.