Major change in Manny Machado's leadership spotlighted by Padres insider

Manny Machado has been with the San Diego Padres since signing a 10-year, $300 million contract on February 21, 2019. The third baseman previously played for the Baltimore Orioles and the LA Dodgers but it was in Friars territory that he distinguished himself as a leader.

Machado's leadership style has changed. San Diego Union-Tribune's Kevin Acee, who has written a lot about him, has had a front-row seat to see it change over the last few years.

During his appearance on "Foul Territory," Acee admitted that he used to question Machado's leadership style but now he’s fully onboard with the veteran’s transformation.

"Manny’s whole thing was: ‘I post and I have a .900 OPS, and that’s good enough— that’s my leadership,’" Acee said (11:30 onwards). "What he’s evolved into is becoming more of a guy who’s involved in everything that the team wants him to be.

"And I guess maybe the reason I’m so impressed by that is—I was kind of like, ‘Hey, this guy plays every day, leave him alone.’ I covered a lot of guys like that back in the ’90s, early 2000s, where all they did was play—they didn’t give a hoot about anything else. But Manny has now become this full-service superstar. And that’s the part that has impressed me."

Kevin Acee says manager Mike Shildt deserves equal credit for Manny Machado's leadership style

Manny Machado knows that for the team to win, there has to be clear communication between players and the coaches. For that, he makes sure, he leads the team from the front in activities he doesn't need to participate in. But he knows it's important for his manager and so for the entire club.

Kevin Acee said San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt deserves equal credit.

"Now, Manny is involved in infield drills before games because that’s important to Mike Shildt," Acee added. "Now they work together—and it’s five minutes to keep Mr. No Small Talk engaged, to keep Manny buying into it.

"That’s a work-together thing that I give Mike Shildt credit for, but Manny credit for too—for saying: ‘Hey, this is important to my manager, to my coaches, to the young guys—to see that I’m also out here doing this.’"

Machado and the Padres have bought into each other's qualities, resulting in the team consistently making the postseason despite being in a competitive NL West featuring the LA Dodgers.