MLB Rumors: Clayton McCullough to Be Marlins Manager; Won WS as Dodgers 1B Coach

Meg Oliphant/ Clayton McCullough will be tasked with leading the Miami Marlins in 2025 and beyond as they continue to rebuild their franchise.

Per ESPN's Alden González , the Marlins have hired the former Los Angeles Dodgers first base coach to be their new manager.

Miami's managerial position opened up after the final day of the 2024 regular season when it was announced that Skip Schumaker would not be returning.

Schumaker's move was telegraphed very early in the season when it was reported in April that he requested to have his team option for 2025 removed from his contract. The Marlins acquiesced, giving him the ability to become a free agent at the end of the year.

There was optimism during Schumaker's first season as manager in 2023. He led them to an 84-78 record and a surprise playoff appearance as a wild-card team. The 44-year-old earned NL Manager of the Year honors.

The bottom fell out in Miami during the 2024 campaign. The Marlins traded Luis Arráez to the San Diego Padres on May 4 in what turned out to be the start of a fire sale. Jazz Chisholm Jr., Tanner Scott, Trevor Rogers, Bryan De La Cruz, Josh Bell and A.J. Puk were all dealt away prior to the trade deadline.

Those moves did help the Marlins restock their farm system with 15 new players, including nine who made their top-30 prospects list on MLB.com .

B/R's Joel Reuter still has Miami's system ranked as the 20th-best in MLB, with the implication being all those trades brought back a high quantity but not a lot of impact players.

There is also the question of how much investment Marlins ownership will put into making the team better. Things figure to improve next season because it's hard to be worse than their 62-100 record, especially with 2022 NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcántara on track to return after undergoing Tommy John surgery in October 2023.

This is a difficult job because of the severe financial limitations imposed by ownership. It's not impossible to navigate, but McCullough has his work cut out for them to get the Marlins back to respectability.

McCullough has plenty of coaching experience going into his first stint as a manager. The 44-year-old has worked in the Dodgers organization since 2015 when he was brought in as a minor league coordinator.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts hired McCullough to be his first base coach prior to the 2021 season. He has served in that role for the past three years, winning a World Series title in 2024.

McCullough had a brief playing career as a 2002 draft pick, reaching the Triple-A level before retiring at the end of the 2005 campaign. He returned to professional baseball in 2014 working in the minor league system for the Toronto Blue Jays.

The East Carolina alum started as a hitting instructor with Toronto's rookie level club before working as a manager for the Gulf Coast League Blue Jays, Lansing Lugnuts, Dunedin Blue Jays and Vancouver Canadians.

That experience working with young players will serve McCullough well because the Marlins are starved for coaches who can develop talent. Their future success depends entirely on maximizing all of the players they have added to their farm system via the draft, international free agency and trades.

McCullough is coming from the best organization in baseball at developing talent. He can fill out his staff with people from the Dodgers to help get good results from the prospects in Miami's system.