Miami Marlins name Skip Schumaker as next manager

The Miami Marlins have their manager.

The Marlins on Tuesday announced St. Louis Cardinals bench coach Skip Schumaker as the 14th manager in the franchise’s 31-year history (not including the one-game stints by Cookie Rojas in 1996 and Brandon Hyde in 2011).

He replaces Don Mattingly, who had been the Marlins’ skipper for the past seven seasons before he and the Marlins mutually agreed to let his contract expire at the end of the season with both Mattingly and the club saying it was time for a new voice to lead the team.

In a release announcing his hire, Schumaker thanked Marlins principal owner Bruce Sherman, general manager Kim Ng and the Marlins organization for giving him “an opportunity to manage a very talented team.”

“Delivering a winning, sustainable culture with the expectation of getting into the postseason is the next step for this organization and South Florida — and I can’t wait to get started,” Schumaker added.

Schumaker, 42, just finished his first season as bench coach for the Cardinals, a team with which he won two World Series during his 11-year playing career as a second baseman and outfielder. He was on the team albeit not on the playoff roster in 2006 and play in 11 games during the 2011 playoffs, including recording the go-ahead hit in Game 5 of the National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies and starting Games 5, 6 and 7 of the World Series against the Texas Rangers.

“As we continue to grow as an organization, we felt it was important to find an individual who had been a part of a winning culture,” Ng said in a release. “Having been a member of two championship teams, along with his reputation for tenacity and getting every ounce out of his ability, Skip will be a tremendous example to our players. His leadership style, teaching skills and attention to detail made him the clear choice as the club’s new manager.”

Overall, he played his first eight seasons with the Cardinals, from 2005-2012 before playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers (managed by Don Mattingly, coincidentally enough) in 2013 and the Cincinnati Reds from 2014-2015.

First-year Cardinals manager Oli Marmol said earlier this season that he “loved every bit” about working with Schumaker.

“The preparation, the conversation,” Marmol said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “All of it. Having him has been an absolute blast.”

Prior to joining the Cardinals’ staff this season, Schumaker spent four years on staff with the San Deigo Padres as the club’s first-base coach (2018 and 2019). and associate manager (2020 and 2021).

Schumaker also served as an assistant to baseball operations and player development for the Padres from 2016-17 before joining the coaching staff in 2018.

Schumaker was one of four candidates who participated in multiple interviews for the job, a group that also included Astros bench coach Joe Espada, Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro and Yankees third-base coach (and former Mets manager) Luis Rojas.

Marlins players react

It didn’t take long for current Marlins players to react to the news of their new manager.

Second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. and ace Sandy Alcantara both posted on Twitter within minutes of the news breaking. Chisholm posted exclamation mark emojis while Alcantara posted a check mark, signaling their approval.

Still work to do

Hiring Schumaker is the first major step in a series of moves the Marlins anticipate making this offseason.

The club under general manager Kim Ng is restructuring its front office and has already moved on from several key players including director of player development Geoff DeGroot and professional scouting director Hadi Raad.

“We have more changes that we’ve talked about,” Ng said last month. “This is going to be an ongoing process, just to make sure that we get everybody going in the right direction.”

After that, it’s fortifying the roster. Miami, after all, finished last season with a 69-93 record and its offense once again finished as one of the worst in baseball in most key categories — 28th in runs scored (586), 27th in OPS (.657) and 24th in home runs (144), among them.

Ng on multiple occasions pointed to the team’s rash of injuries as part of the reason for the Marlins’ offensive struggles. Chisholm, arguably their most consistent hitter when healthy, only played in 60 games before suffering a season-ending back injury before the All-Star Break. Outfielders Jorge Soler and Avisail Garcia, the team’s primary free-agent signings, played in 72 and 98 games, respectively, with Soler only playing two games after the All-Star Break. Joey Wendle and Brian Anderson, the team’s primary third baseman options, simultaneously missed a month with injuries of their own as well.

“I think we came in [this season] with more depth than we had in the previous season,” Ng said, “but as we saw, it still wasn’t enough.”

And then there’s the matter of Schumaker selecting his coaching staff. He is going to have a voice in which members of the Marlins’ staff stays and which members do not. Current Marlins coaches on staff were made aware of this before the season ended.

The Marlins do hope to retain pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr.