Craig Albernaz Withdraws From Marlins’ Managerial Search; Clayton McCullough Still Under Consideration

Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz has withdrawn his name from the Marlins’ managerial search, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Both the Marlins and White Sox liked Albernaz enough to consider him a finalist in their searches, but Passan suggests Albernaz took his name out of the bidding in Chicago as well prior to the team’s hiring of Will Venable. In a separate report, Passan adds that Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough is still in the mix for Miami’s vacancy. MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola first linked Miami and McCullough about three weeks ago.

Albernaz, 42, was a minor league catcher in the Rays and Tigers systems from 2006-14. He spent four years as the Giants’ bullpen and catching coach and overlapped with then-manager (and now Marlins assistant GM) Gabe Kapler’s time in San Francisco’s dugout. The Guards hired him away from the Giants last offseason — but not after first interviewing him for their own managerial vacancy (which eventually went to Stephen Vogt). Albernaz was originally hired as the Guardians’ field coordinator, but just 16 days later he was listed as the team’s bench coach when they finalized their entire staff under the newly hired Vogt.

McCullough, 44, played four years in the minors before shifting to a minor league coaching track. He managed for seven seasons in the Blue Jays’ system and has been with the Dodgers since 2015. Los Angeles originally hired McCullough as their minor league field coordinator, and he’s been Dave Roberts’ first base coach since the 2021 season.

For the past few years, McCullough has been widely viewed as a future manager. He’s interviewed not only with the Marlins but also the White Sox, Brewers, Guardians, Mets and Royals — emerging as a finalist alongside Matt Quatraro for the Kansas City gig. De Nicola tweets that Dodgers star Mookie Betts has called McCullough “the best coach I’ve ever had.” Like Albernaz, McCullough has worked with Kapler in the past, as the two overlapped during their time in the Dodgers’ minor league coaching ranks.

It’s not clear at this juncture who, beyond McCullough, is still under consideration. Albernaz and Venable were reported to be among the team’s finalists earlier this week. Venable, of course, has since been hired by the White Sox while Albernaz has taken his name out of the running. Other known candidates for Miami’s managerial search included Tigers bench coach George Lombard and Luis Urueta, who served as the bench coach under Skip Schumaker prior to his recent departure from the organization.