MIAMI — After spending the past several seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Clayton McCullough has seen what it takes to win.
McCullough, hired this month by the Miami Marlins as the 17th manager in club history, needed only a few conversations with Marlins executives before he felt he could help lead the organization in that same direction.
“As I got a chance to talk with Peter (Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix) about his vision for what was going to be going on here,” McCullough said, “the importance of culture, the importance of people — certainly, winning — it felt right.”
The Marlins formally introduced McCullough, the first-base coach for the Dodgers since 2021, as their new manager Monday. They are hoping he will become one of the centerpieces of their latest rebuilding project.
Miami went 62-100 this past season, dropping at least 100 games for the second time in six years.
With an eye toward the future, the Marlins traded away most of their best players in exchange for less-expensive prospects. And they mutually agreed to part ways with the 2023 NL Manager of the Year Skip Schumaker at the end of the season.
“I don’t want an 18th manager,” said Marlins owner Bruce Sherman, who is on his third managerial hire since 2022. “I want a 17th manager to stay for many, many years.”
McCullough spoke with Bendix and other team executives on several video calls over the past month. He met with them in person at his home in Jupiter, Florida, shortly after the Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in the World Series, and he also made a trip to Miami for dinner with everyone.
“As I went through it, my comfort level with everyone and everything just raised,” McCullough said. “And I left that night after dinner driving back to Jupiter going, ‘I hope this is something that I can get through the finish line and will happen.'”
McCullough is coming from an organization that has used extensive resources to bring in marquee players and build a title-winning roster. The Marlins have a vastly different approach on spending, with one of the lowest payrolls in MLB. They’ll spend about $31.5 million in payroll next season.
“There’s a lot of different ways to win,” McCullough said. “There’s no guarantee that just because you have a higher payroll that it’s guaranteed you’re going to win. Successful teams are all very much committed to the attention to detail. They are committed to their preparation. They are committed to each and every day taking one step forward.”
McCullough also wasn’t deterred by a rebuilding franchise.
“At my core I have always loved player development,” he said. “For me, at the major league level, this is less about inexperienced or younger players or veteran players. I’ve found that major league players want to be coached. They want to get better. I think that is somewhat independent of experience level.”
An Oxford, North Carolina, native, McCullough got into baseball by watching his father, Howard, coach at the University of North Carolina and work as a scout for several major league teams.
Clayton McCullough spent one season at Vanderbilt before transferring to East Carolina University. He was drafted by Cleveland in the 22nd round in 2002 and played in its minor league system from 2002 to 2005.
McCullough was a manager in the Blue Jays‘ minor league system for seven seasons. The 44-year-old was hired by the Dodgers in 2015 as their minor league field coordinator before becoming their first-base coach. He pointed to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and former longtime Blue Jays coach Luis Rivera as mentors.
As for what made McCullough the ideal fit, Bendix noted his “patience, consistency and genuine care for people around him, not just as players, but as people.”
Sherman added that this search was a “complicated process” that involved several other candidates. The Marlins also considered former Cleveland Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz and Will Venable, a former associate manager for Texas.
“This just fits,” Sherman said. “And when I saw that fit, then I knew it was right.”