Reviewing Manny Machado’s 2026 season

With a 2026 regular season well behind the San Diego Padres, there’s still plenty to discuss about their slowly aging core. Chief among them, of course, is Manny Machado, who signed an 11-year contract with the Friars ahead of the 2023 season.

Much like the rest of the San Diego Padres, Machado seemed to take a backseat offensively.

In the 2026 regular season, he posted a career-worst WAR at 1.5. He also posted his worst batting average and OPS and recorded his fewest hits in a full campaign.

However, some of his classic attributes remained. He ended the regular season top 20 in homers with 30, tying Shohei Ohtani. This is his most home runs in a single season since 2022.

DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS https://t.co/qnYIvnKciC

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) June 20, 2026

In addition, Machado recorded his most bases on balls with 76 total.

What this signals is that slowly but surely, Machado is shifting his hitting philosophy. Machado himself admitted partway through the season that he was working through things after a dangerously mediocre start to the year.

His batted ball profile supports this theory. Throughout 2026, the Floridian native, despite having more strikeouts than ever, grew more selective with his pitches. He’s focused more on pitches in the zone compared to 2025 and swung at that first pitch far less.

Of course, when he finally gets that perfect pitch, he punishes it far more than he has in years. His run value on four-seamers is the best it’s been since 2019.

That said, Machado had some of the softest contact quality metrics of his career this year, which might explain some of his career-low numbers.

Manny’s BABIP was .231 in 2026, the second worst in Major League Baseball. Despite making a lot of contact, most of it was weak or fell right into the opponent’s glove. Combine that with Manny’s low speed, and even the hardest-hit balls can become outs. Fellow Padre Xander Bogaerts also struggled mightily with this; however, his issues were a little different.

None of this is meant to suggest that Machado is transforming into a full-blown three-true-outcome hitter. He certainly didn’t reach base enough to fall into that stereotype. Instead, it feels like he spent much of this season figuring things out again. Despite Manny being a self-proclaimed non-stats guy, you don’t need numbers to see the issue with his game. As the season progressed, the Padres team captain seemed to return to form, even bumping his BABIP slightly.

Still, Machado proved his worth in other ways.

Amongst all qualified players, El Ministro leads the league in outs above average at 12. Alex Bregman, a Gold Glove finalist and statistical runner-up, is at 9. This year, Baseball Savant tracks Machado as having prevented nine runs from scoring.

Manny “The Minister of Defense” Machado is not a 2026 Gold Glove Award finalist. This is puzzling, considering the natural third baseman, from a fielding perspective, is the most dominant in the majors.

That said, Baseball Savant gives Bregman, Machado, and Joey Ortiz equal league-leading fielding run value amongst all qualified third basemen. It’s true the Gold Glove Award isn’t always a metrics-based decision; it’s also very obvious that despite being a defensive award, offensive production garners more attention. Bregman had a fantastic offensive surge post-ASB and just so happened to be a great fielder too.

There is a silver lining in all of this, though. Machado has not stopped being the league’s best third baseman since arriving in San Diego, and he shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, Machado just recorded his fewest single-season errors as a third baseman, three in 139 games. This gives Machado a league-leading .9903 fielding percentage in 2026.

This ties the fourth-best single-season record for fielding percentage at 3B in Major League history. If you remove players with fewer than 1,000 innings at that particular position, he moves up to second-best all time.

By all accounts, 2026 was a down year for the Friar; however, there’s clearly so much more to appreciate about Machado’s game beyond homers and batting average.

There’s no doubt that the Manny Machado San Diego fell in love with all those years ago is alive and well. It’s easy to laud the numbers and get caught up in sabermetrics. The reality of the product is still on the field. Despite what the eye test may be telling you, there’s still plenty of gas left in Machado’s tank.

Fabian Garcia