Padres' Manny Machado Finally Shedding Effects of 2023 Elbow Surgery

Maren Angus-Coombs | Aug 29, 2024

Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado seems to be leaving his elbow surgery in the past.

In his past seven games, he is slashing .357/.419/.679.

Machado has made a few adjustments over the past couple of weeks that have paid huge dividends. Earlier this month, Machado was chasing breaking pitches outside the zone and missing. He was also missing fastballs in the middle of the zone.

What did he change? Not much. His body is just feeling the effects of being nearly a year removed from hand surgery.

“I just feel better,” said Machado, who also doubled on a sweeper down and away. “My body is able to do things I couldn’t do months ago. When you’re body is able to do some things, you can bounce back from things quicker.”

The healing of his body has turned his year around because in the middle of June, he was in one of the longest slumps of his career. For nearly 2.5 months, Machado only hit six home runs in a span of 282 plate appearances.

“I’m behind the eight-ball a little bit, and I’m okay with that,” he told Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune on June 18. “Because I know where I’m going to be at the end of day. But yeah, it’s definitely not where I want to be. My swing is not there. My elbow is not letting me do the things I’m normally capable of doing. So I gotta tweak things here and there. I’ve had to do a lot. I wish I could feel like I did last year or two years ago and feel that way. And obviously right now, it’s not.”

Machado spoke about his elbow and how he couldn't get into the slot to launch the ball.

Everything changed the next day when he went on a 15-game hot streak, batting .377 with six home runs. All it took was some time.

“Surgery (requires) time," he said. "You can’t fast-forward that. … I knew my body was going to be able to catch up. And here we are.”

Machado has tailed off slightly from July 6 through July 26, but he picked it back up on July 27.

“Next year definitely will be better, for sure,” he said. “I still feel it. There are days I’m grinding a little it. Especially, this has been a tough stretch for us. I’ve been out there every day, playing third base, throwing every day, hitting every day. Being able to do what I really want to do offensively puts a little more stress on my elbow. It’s not completely healed. It’s there. But it’s definitely better than it was months ago. I’m having better stretches of having better days than earlier in the year.”