Nov. 11: The Marlins have now formally announced the hiring.
Nov. 10: The Marlins have hired Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough as their new manager, ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez reports (X link). This is the 44-year-old McCullough’s first job as a skipper at the big league level.
It was no secret that the Marlins would be moving on from Skip Schumaker at season’s end, and Miami interviewed such names as McCullough, then-Rangers associate manager Will Venable, Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz, Tigers bench coach George Lombard, and the Marlins’ own former bench coach Luis Urueta (who worked on Schumaker’s staff). After speaking with over 10 candidates in Zoom interviews, the Marlins then met with Venable and Albernaz for in-person interviews, seemingly establishing the two as finalists.
However, Venable was then hired by the White Sox as their new manager, while Albernaz chose to remain in Cleveland and pulled himself out of the running for the managerial jobs in both Chicago and Miami. This left the Marlins turning to another candidates, and the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson wrote that the club had an in-person meeting with McCullough this past week in McCullough’s home in Jupiter, Florida. Since the Marlins hold their Spring Training camp in Jupiter, it makes for something of a homecoming for McCullough as he embarks on his new chapter in his career.
McCullough was a minor league catcher in Cleveland’s farm system from 2002-05 before beginning his coaching career at age 27 as the manager of the Blue Jays’ Gulf Coast League rookie ball affiliate. McCullough managed in Toronto’s farm system from 2007-14, working his way up the ladder to manage at all three A-level affiliates before leaving the organization to join the Dodgers in 2015. Initially working as the Dodgers’ minor league field coordinator, McCullough spent a couple of years working with Gabe Kapler (now the Marlins’ assistant GM) when Kapler was Los Angeles’ director of player development.
The move to the big league coaching staff came in 2021, and McCullough has been the L.A. first base coach for the last four seasons. It wasn’t long before McCullough’s name began to surface in managerial searches around the league, as McCullough was a candidate for vacancies with the Mets, Brewers, Guardians, and Royals in recent years, in addition to the consideration from the White Sox this very offseason. The Royals’ job was probably McCullough’s closest call, as he was reportedly a finalist two years ago before Kansas City opted to hire Matt Quatraro.
McCullough now faces a tough challenge in his first managerial gig, as the Marlins are coming off a 100-loss season. Miami’s wild card berth in the 2023 playoffs seems like ages ago now, since the club parted ways with general manager Kim Ng and hired Peter Bendix as the new president of baseball operations. Bendix’s first assignment has been to reinforce the minor league system and tear down the MLB roster, leaving Miami fans facing yet another rebuild.
There obviously isn’t any pressure on McCullough to win any time soon, as his chief task will be to oversee a pretty inexperienced roster. Rather than wins or losses, McCullough’s immediate results will be gauged on how the young Marlins (both on the active roster and coming up from the farm) can develop at the big league level. McCullough’s history as a minor league manager will surely help in this regard, as will his pedigree as a coach with a World Series-winning team.
With the Marlins’ decision now made, the managerial hiring cycle is now complete for the offseason, barring any unexpected firings in the coming weeks or months. McCullough joins Venable and Reds manager Terry Francona as new bench bosses heading into the 2025 season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Clayton is going from the penthouse to the basement. Good luck with that.
How many head coaches/managers haven’t had to do that? Ground up at the top job
Give him a shot. Everyone needs to build their resumes from experience. If it doesn’t work out, I’m sure he will find his way back to where he needs to be.
Grace Slick approves this
That’s how it works. Job openings are usually losing teams and coaches that get hired are usually from winning teams.
hiflew – Correct, that’s how it usually works. Not always though …. Cora is a prime example of being fast tracked to a winning team despite having virtually no experience.
White sox are definitely the basement
White Sox are the abandoned bomb shelter under the basement
Didn’t think he went to the White Sox or A’s….must have misread
Marlins lost more than the A’s
Good hire why not? Everyone has to start somewhere.
I hope Clayton knows that there aren’t more incoming World Series where he’s going.
I’m quite sure he’s glad to not have to sit as a bench coach for a few years before managing.
Congratulations to Clayton. Gonna be quite a culture shock
Doesn’t move the needle…
No first time manager moved the needle.
What needle?
If you’re a Marlins fan, hide all needles.
Hide all sharp objects.
Dodger fan here Florida is getting a good guy. Thank you for your time here.
Respect for understanding the process
Bet 5 grand that they would hire Showalter and now the bookie is blowing up the phone with non-stop calls and messages.
Who ya got forSunday night football so I can bet the opposite?
500 on the Commanders.
Commanders plus half a point.
Close
It was the Lions and Texans. You couldn’t have bet on the Commanders.
No wonder I never win…
1-800-GAMBLER can connect you to a variety of resources related to gambling-related issues
I remember when I was growing up, I knew every single manager in the league like they were relatives. I could probably still name most of the big league managers from the year I started following baseball in 1985. I bet I could name at least 20 out of 26. Now I would be lucky to correctly name 10 current managers. Of course I would also be lucky to name 10 current relatives too. Always something new to forget when you get older.
I had a witty response to this, if I could only remember what it was…
hiflew: You can’t be that old if you only started following baseball in 1985.
Just put Org Charts (with pics) and Family Trees (with pics) all over your office walls like I do. It really helps to put faces to names!!
I try to avoid relatives (especially in-laws), and that way I don’t have to remember any names!
@Ignorant Son-of-a-b,
Yes, a murder board!
I am sensing some familial hostility in this thread today. Is it because we’re getting close to Thanksgiving?
Why on Earth wouldn’t he stay in Jupiter? You bet Uranus he would.
Har har.
He could have Saturn his backside.
It’s copycat league, u win n your gonna get poached. Thanks 4the Dodger memories. Pretty cool, just won WS n now got his own managing gig. Good Luck !
Any of the manager hires would’ve been a good choice this year. They all seemed like no brainers and worth a chance. No crazy out of the box candidates. I’m more excited/curious to see who the front office/McCullough go with for pitching coach
We saved those for the political election.
Clayton deserved a manager job years ago I’m glad he finally got the job albeit with a horrible team
Gotta start somewhere, and Dave Roberts isn’t leaving the Dodgers anytime soon.
Marlins poaching the Dodgers. Here comes the downfall of the Dodgers.
Seems like the Marlins still have some work to do if they are truly burning everything to the ground to start again. All those starting pitchers should be available in trade: Alcantara, Braxton Garret, Eury Perez, Jesus Luzardo, Edward Cabrera….I can see some top eschelon teams slobbering over landing one or two of those guys.
Sandy Alcantara is coming back from TJS, so he doesn’t have the value the Marlins would want to trade him now. But as soon as he shows that he’s healthy again, and Marlins continue on this scorched earth rebuild, they’ll trade him.
And on second thought they would be foolish to trade Eury Perez, he is still so young and the huge upside is already apparent. Marlins need to keep him for sure.
Worst job in the league
That would be the White Sox. I’d even put the Rays there since they have an owner that doesn’t want to pay the money to keep good players when the hit free agency, and won’t supplement the talent already there with Grade A free agents.
The rays are a much better franchise and it’s not even close.
Gotta start at the bottom for most things except learning how to swim.
Never heard of him before this article
Yeah because most people have heard of all the other first base coaches.
Which says more about you than about him.
Good hire even if he was option No 3. Kind of wished he’d been available for when the Jays clean house…
Who says he won’t be. Schumaker is a year removed from being NL Manager of the Year. All McCullough has to do is refuse to drink the kool-aid in a year or two and he could be ripe for the picking for Toronto
What koolaid?
Cherry Limeade of course
No manager is ever changing the culture there. That comes from the top. He’s just looking forward to the pay increase.
Matt Quatraro took a fairly young, pretty bad Royals team and turned them into a playoff team in a year’s time (though ownerships willingness to open the check book helped) so you never know. The starting pitching is really good if healthy, it’s offense they need to figure out the most
I was talking specifically about the Marlins, not bad teams in general.
I know. And as i said the Marlins starting pitching is really good if healthy, it’s the offense they need to work on
@ RSox
It makes sense to let pitchers rebuild some value by trading them between May and the deadline.
A very strong recovery by the pitching staff could have the Marlins reversing into the post season again
10th November. Not too slow, so hopefully he doesn’t have too much trouble assembling a coaching group he’s happy to go into his first season with.
I had posted about being nervous of what kind of manager Peter Bendix would choose, so my favourite snippet of information about Clayton McCullough is Mookie Betts has described him as the best coach he’s ever had.
Former catchers make great managers. Maybe as a former manager I am biased.
It will come down to what kind of support he gets from the front office and ownership. Marlins are not famous for that.
Catchers are the players who are in foul territory just like managers. Best view of the game. Plus they’re involved in every pitch. Makes sense.
Not trying to be a jerk, but who??? Legit don’t know who he is. Even with his team in the World Series I don’t I heard his name mentioned once.
Either way, much luck! Getting shot at managing a MLB team no matter how bad is fantastic.
Try harder.
Without looking it up, who was the Marlins first base coach? Most people just don’t know, even baseball fanatics like us. Even though he was a former MLB player.
This is true. Which is why I felt it was kind of jerky to make any sort of a deal about not having heard of him. Most fans don’t know the names of the coaches even on their own team, let alone, another one.
good hire
10 interviews on Zoom, two in person finalists, Just out of curiosity, what’s the norm in professional sports. how many interviews are done by Zoom? I’d have thought you’d want to see the guy in the flesh, maybe pick up body language. Zoom always feels artificial, although I suppose it’s a faster and less expensive way to winnow people out.
I’m honestly surprised that it wasn’t Gabe Kapler.
Let’s see how this goes.
It’s interesting for what the Marlins are considering since McCullough is a South Florida guy. Obviously he’s thrilled to get a first gig…even better he’s going to be home for it. It also spells well for potential longevity if it works out as a potential mutual benefit in getting a guy who very likely would be happy managing in his backyard and for the team if they can get a good manager who would be willing to give hometown discounts due to favorable state tax and be happy at home.
Kapler needs to be jettisoned. Waste of payroll