SAN DIEGO — The Padres’ choice to be their manager is outside the box but from inside the organization.

He is relatively unknown by many who follow the game but highly respected by many in the game.

In a decision that snuck up on virtually every one around Major League Baseball, Padres relief pitcher Craig Stammen was named the team’s next manager on Thursday.

Stammen, who spent six years with the Padres at the end of a 13-year major league career, has agreed to a three-year contract. He replaces Mike Shildt, who retired unexpectedly last month.

The 41-year-old Stammen inherits a club expected to contend for its third straight playoff berth. And he will take on the role with many questioning his qualifications as a former pitcher who has never coached or managed at any level.

“It’s not something you expect out of a reliever,” said Padres starting pitcher Joe Musgrove, a teammate of Stammen’s in 2021 and ‘22. “You don’t see many relievers get the job Craig just got. But Craig is one of the most high-integrity people I’ve ever been around. Outside of how good a person he is and how good he is as matching personalities and finding ways to connect to people from different parts of the world, he has got a really good baseball mind as well.”

Stammen becomes the only current MLB manager to have been a pitcher in the major leagues. He will be learning on the job, but he is already familiar with the franchise.

“He believes in our players and our organization,” Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller said. “He has first-hand knowledge of the team. He played with some of the guys who are in the clubhouse right now. Also, the last two years he has seen it from a different lens — seen how the coaching staff, support staff work. He was always a super-prepared player. He’s a guy who wasn’t the most talented and ended up performing 12 years in the big leagues.”

After retiring in 2023, Stammen served as a special assistant in the Padres’ player development department the past two years. In that role, he alternated between working with minor leaguers and spending time with the big league club.

In his six seasons pitching for the Padres, he grew to possess a leadership role that was extremely rare for a middle reliever, serving as a mentor and sounding board in all corners of the clubhouse. Among those who revered him and were swayed by his counsel in various instances was Manny Machado.

Stammen had a 3.36 ERA in his 333 games for the Padres, and on Oct. 2, 2020, played a pivotal role in one of the most iconic games in franchise history. The decisive victory in Game 3 of the wild-card series against the Cardinals is known to many Padres fans as “The Stammen Game,” as he worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings as the first of nine pitchers used in a 4-0 victory that completed the team’s first postseason series win since 1998.

In his role as a leader and a representative for the MLB Players Association, Stammen had multiple conversations with former Padres chairman Ron Fowler that left the discerning businessman impressed.

“This wasn’t that surprising to me when I thought about it,” Fowler said of Stammen being named manager. “He had a gravitas about him you don’t see from most ballplayers. His peers respected him. He was respected by people in the game. … “I know how much A.J. respected him. And I felt the same way about him.”

Stammen initially joined the Padres in 2017 on a minor league contract after spending the previous season working back from flexor tendon surgery. He pitched well enough to make the team out of spring training, but a part of the consideration at that time was that an extremely young team needed his experience in the clubhouse. His influence with teammates was also a measure of the Padres’ reasoning in awarding him a two-year contract in 2021.

It is largely for that ability to transcend the typical limitations of a relief pitcher that has the Padres betting on him.

“It comes down to the individual,” Preller said. “Experience is important. Craig’s experiences are in working, leading, pitching, being in the Padres family.”

The Padres search began with the front office vetting a list of several dozen candidates and kicked off in earnest with what one source said was “seven or eight” Zoom calls the week of Oct. 20.

Stammen, who kept a home in Coronado even after retiring during spring training in 2023 due to a shoulder injury, was not officially a candidate when the Padres began their search. As he was when the Padres interviewed managerial candidates late in 2023, Stammen even sat in on some of the hourlong Zoom calls in the first round of interviews.

The father of four young children then told the Padres he was interested in the job. Their familiarity with him made him a finalist.

None of the four candidates the Padres brought to San Diego for in-person interviews last week had managerial experience.

A tight circle of team officials led by chairman John Seidler, CEO Erik Greupner, assistant general manager Josh Stein and Preller, chose Stammen over future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols, former Padres catcher Nick Hundley and current Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla.

The plan is for the highly respected Niebla, who has two years remaining on his contract, to be retained.

“I sure hope so,” Musgrove said. “Ruben is a big piece of this puzzle. One of the toughest parts of being a manager is having to manage the bullpen. Having a bullpen guy running the show with a pitching coach like Ruben at his side is a dangerous duo. (Niebla) would be tough to lose.”

The Padres are expected to bring back most of their coaching staff, including bullpen coach Ben Fritz, who signed a contract extension recently after multiple teams inquired about interviewing him for their pitching coach position. The Padres will be searching for a new hitting coach and third base coach, as hitting coach Victor Rodriguez has accepted a job with the Astros and third base coach Tim Leiper has been hired by the Mets.

According to people familiar with the interview process, Stammen impressed Padres officials with the genuine manner in which he communicated, his conviction about how a team should be run and his knowledge of the organization.

Preller has long held Stammen in high regard for his leadership skills and straightforward way of communicating. Preller had spoken several times over the years about Stammen having a future in the game in “whatever (role) he wants.”

That role is now as the 19th full-time manager in franchise history and the fourth since 2020.

After Andy Green was fired with nine games remaining in the 2019 season, his fourth as manager, the Padres have had three managers in six years.

All three left under different circumstances.

Jayce Tingler was fired after the 2021 season, Bob Melvin left to become manager of the Giants after the ‘23 season and Shildt decided to walk away citing health concerns.

Two of Stammen’s predecessors were ebullient in their praise for him.

“He’s a man of his word,” Green said. “He has the type of presence that people gravitate toward. Trust is what every clubhouse is built upon, and integrity is a prerequisite for trust. Everybody who knows Craig knows he is going to speak the truth. Whether his truth is something you want to hear, he is going to speak it.”

Tingler echoed the sentiment as he spoke of why Stammen will resonate as a manager.

“The respect, the work ethic,” Tingler said. “He knows the players. He is extremely sharp and extremely grounded. … He’s going to have automatic respect just because they know him and they’ve seen him work. … It’s because of the person he is, the man he is — not just on the field, not just before the game,” Tingler said. “It’s how he carried himself, how hes a father, how he’s a husband, how he’s a ballplayer. You’re naturally going to look up to men like that. He’s so well-respected because of the person he is. You can’t fake that.”

Stammen takes over a team that has won 183 games over the past two seasons, most in franchise history in consecutive campaigns, and returns most of its core position players.

A half-dozen players remain from Stammen’s last season — Machado, Musgrove, Jake Cronenworth, Yu Darvish, Adrian Morejón and Fernando Tatis Jr.

“Craig has the respect of everybody in the room,” Musgrove said. “When he speaks, people will listen.”

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