MLB WINTER MEETINGS

December 5, 2022

Skip Schumaker

Miami Marlins

Press Conference

Q. You're about a month into everything. Have you settled in (indiscernible) what has gone on the last month? How do you sum up the time?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: Mainly it was hiring my staff. Trying to figure out who I wanted with the group, had a bunch of interviews that went on. The majority of it is tough because a lot of the good coaches are in other organizations, so you're trying to figure out how to get them.

And so luckily I got who I wanted for the most part. It's almost done. Maybe a couple more hires. But the bench coaching is done, the hitting is done. Pitching was important to keep. So really happy how it all turned out.

Q. Which has been the toughest of the positions to fill?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: Probably the hitting side. Yeah, that took a while to get right. And when you're asking for permission, that also is tough. But really lucky we got Brant Brown on board. And to me the Dodgers are like the envy of most Major League offenses.

And him being able to develop our system, not only at the Major League level but the minor league level is going to be huge for us. And I'm excited for our guys to start working with them.

Q. Each guy is different, but what's kind of the certain characteristic you're looking at in each of them to put together your team? And what type of profile were you looking to add in those guys to make your coaching staff?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: First, I wanted a good person. You have to be high character. I bet on good people for the most part. The baseball stuff is second to me. Good people, then good baseball.

And luckily everybody that we hired has both qualities. So I wouldn't -- I definitely would not hire really good baseball guy if they were a bad person. So that was important to me.

Built-in relationships in some capacity were important. So whether I coached with them, played with them or had a really good friend or former teammate that trusted in this particular coach was important to me as well.

Q. You mentioned you played with them. What role did Jon Jay play?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: Former teammate. Knows what winning looks like. World Series champion. Knows what -- I think a guy like Jon Jay has been coaching for the last three or four years of his career, honestly. He's that type of person.

Knew when to bring in the young guys, get them out early, whether it was the base running or the outfield or talk hitting.

Jon Jay was important to me. A Miami kid. He lives 10 minutes away from the stadium. Had built-in relationships with a lot of the players already. A good friend of mine.

I know he knows what I'm about, and I think is a guy that's going to hold everyone accountable. And I think Jon Jay is a rising star on the coaching side and I'm lucky that we got him first.

Q. The introductory press conference you mentioned just how the coaches (indiscernible) with the players. How much of an impact can you guys have as a coaching staff to maybe (indiscernible), let's say the roster stays the same. With those guys, how much of an impact can you guys actually have?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: That's our job. Our job is to get guys better. Your job just isn't to show up and watch the game. Our job is to get whoever players Kim gives us to get better, to get the best version out of them.

It's not the easiest thing to do. That's why there's so many hires and fires every single year. And that's just the reality of this game. But that's why I hired or we hired the best coaches that I think that can do that. And hopefully we can have some really good years out of these kids.

Q. You mentioned when we talked the fact (indiscernible) that you're having a conversation with players. How is that dialogue going with the roster? What's been your central message to them? And any conversations from the other end, from the player's end that stood out with you?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: A few things. I think there's excitement about the new coaches that have been hired. I think the majority -- not the majority but a lot of the kids are disappointed in -- I keep saying kids, but the kids to me -- but a lot of the players are disappointed in their years, some embarrassed by their seasons, and are looking to rebound.

And I think that's -- motivation is a scary drug. And I think having guys that are upset about their previous year helps a coach because we see some things that can help them and they're willing to listen and not happy about the year before, that there's not a bad thing about that, that's for sure.

Q. On the hitting side of things, I think that's where the industry will recognize the Marlins pitching is being among the top and the hitting is sort of the issue. Bringing in Brant, is there more of an expanded role than just on the Major League side? And what do you think he could do potentially to help perhaps some of those things?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: I see the hitting is like a hitting department. Like, I know there's a number one, two, three, whatever, but I really feel like it's a department. And this is what we should be doing as an organization and not cookie cut it, but have a real philosophy.

Brant has that. First of all he has a good feel. He can talk to you as a player and not just like drill you on something and this is how it is and this is how it's going to be.

Talking with a lot of guys that have played under Brant as a hitting guy, they know that they're going to be super prepared. They know there's certain drills that can help with a guy that needs bat speed or the guy that needs to get the ball off the ground, whatever it is. There's different drills for everybody. And I think it needs to be an organizational philosophy. And I think Brant can deliver that for us.

Q. You also mentioned you introduced the importance of having someone who could speak Spanish with the Latin guys by having Luis Urueta next to you. How big that's going to be?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: I think Arizona is a tough team to play against. They run the bases the right way. They play hard. You have to beat them. They're not going to beat themselves. And having been in San Diego for a number of years and facing Arizona, I know what he's all about.

I know he holds the guys accountable. I know how he gets the best version of those guys out of them. And so that was a big hire for me.

I respect him. Always have. I think he's going to be a big league manager one day. But for right now I have a really good bench coach.

And I had such a good relationship with Ollie Marmol last year. And I was searching for that. That's kind of what I wanted. And thank God he was available and I got to get him.

Q. (Indiscernible) the one year with him, worked so closely to prepare you for this role?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: I learned a lot. I learned a lot about not micromanaging. Ollie was not a micromanager. He let the coaches that he hired coach. I didn't know Ollie on a personal level until he hired me and went through the hiring process. I knew right away that if you're going to spend the most time with somebody, you've got to really like them and be on the same page.

And Ollie and I were on the same page. And my weaknesses were his strengths and vice versa. I think that's why it worked so well. And that's a lot what I see with Pipe (phonetic). The same way, with Luis.

But the micromanaging was probably the number one thing that I took away. It was like we hired you to coach. Coach. Do it well, and we'll see what happens. And that's what Ollie did. That's what I took away from most of it.

Q. You know Matt Holliday well. He's stepping in the job you had before. Have you and he talked. How do you think --

SKIP SCHUMAKER: I think he's going to be terrible. There's no way he's going to replace me. (Laughter).

No, he's great. I love Matt. He's going to be amazing at it. He could have been a big league bench coach or manager years ago if he wanted to be. And what a great spot for him to be in.

Obviously he has a really good team that he -- just like I got on, too, last year -- inherited that type of team. But Matt's only going to make them better. He made me better as a player. He's going to make every one of those guys better. So it was a great hire by Ollie, for sure.

Q. (Indiscernible) the personality role, how different is he going to be as a bench coach than you were as a bench coach? You guys shared some competitiveness, but you're not the same guys.

SKIP SCHUMAKER: That seat is different. It just is. From being a player, then jumping on to be a first base coach is different. And then from first base to bench coach is different.

So there's a lot of learning. Running a Spring Training, like he's got some guys that can help him. Pogy is great over there. And Stubby is really good at running the infield. And obviously Willie in the outfield. So he's got a lot of good guys around him in places that can really help.

But Matt is -- he'll figure it out. He's got good work ethic, good feel. I think the challenge will be just like bullpen matchups and that kind of thing, when Ollie gets kicked out -- because he's going to get kicked out -- and the game gets fast.

And so I think that's going to be the main challenge is, like, how are you going to run a game? But Matt's going to be fine. He's a pro.

Q. Looking ahead a bit, when Spring Training comes around, you have the World Baseball Classic, introduction of new roles. How will the challenge be? Guys will be at camp elsewhere.

SKIP SCHUMAKER: It's going to be a challenge for a rookie manager because I don't know the guys yet. You can do a bunch of calls and you can go meet with lunches and dinners and watch videos. But actually getting your eyes on them in a bullpen or a real-game setting, it's definitely a challenge with the WBC.

You've got to lean on a lot of the guys that are here and the front office and their takes and watch the WBC.

So I'm excited that they get to join it. But as a rookie manager, selfishly, why this year? But we have a lot of guys playing in it. Excited for them. Excited for them to come back healthy, that's number one.

As far as the rules, yeah, I think it's new for everybody. We have Rod Barajas, Griffin Benedict, Jody Reed, guys on my staff were in the minor leagues last year. As far as like the run game and the bases and that type of stuff.

And I'm going to lean on them and try to figure that out, just like probably everybody else is trying to figure it out.

Q. What's the interaction between you and Kim as the offseason goes on, trying to figure out roster stuff? And how involved are you with possible decisions and just that back and forth between you guys trying to figure things out?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: I think it's always dangerous when a player or a manager or coach plays GM. I think that's a very dangerous move. I try to give her some ideas. And if she asks me questions, then I'll give her my take on it.

But she has a staff built around her that is looking at every way for us to get better. If there's questions, I'll give it to her. But I'm not giving her like a list of 10 guys, like we have to get one of these guys. That's just not my personality. It's not my job.

But I'm here, any questions she needs, I'm going to give it to her, my take.

Q. Hitting and pitching question. On the former, bringing in a new hitting program, was a stronger emphasis on getting analytics and the body movement profiles a specific focus?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: Body movement is big. Incorporating the training staff with the hitting department is a big, big deal. I know the preparation component is a big deal.

So Brant checks every single box as far as that's concerned. Analytically, you give guys what they can handle. Some guys want it all. Paul Goldschmidt wanted every single heat map, whatever it was, possible. There's other guys that were like just let me get in the box and hit.

So everybody's different, and you don't want to overemphasize the analytics stuff if the player can't digest it.

Q. And on the pitching side, top prospect Eury Pérez, why is he as good as he is? And what are your thoughts on, quote/unquote, fast tracking the young talent to the big leagues?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: Why is he good? He's got an arm that you can't teach. So that's number one. He's a big kid, and I would say his delivery is as repeatable as you want, as simple as you want. I think it's going to play and fast track quicker than most.

I will say that if a pitcher is ready and he can command the fastball and has pitch command, I think that's number one. Stuff up here doesn't play. It's got to be pitchability and stuff. It's got to be a combination.

Because if you just have stuff and you walk guys, we know we're going to lose. Stuff doesn't mean anything to me. You have to pitch.

I think a guy like him can fast track. I think you look at a number of different things, health, number of innings they've had the previous couple of years, and can he help us win? Does he help us win in the bullpen? Does he help us in the rotation? What's that look like moving forward?

But I think you can't just rush him right now to say he's going to be in the rotation or in the bullpen. But we are really excited about where he's at.

Q. If you look at (indiscernible), saw what (indiscernible) pick in the playoffs last year, couple top teams make moves and see what the payrolls are. What's the challenge for you to be able to compete in the division? And where do you get the confidence that you guys can compete in the East?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: I still really like our rotation. I think, I know -- we just had our staff in the room, in the suite and going over a lot of the new coaches that came over, going over our pitching staff and the pitching staff is real. The depth is real.

I think the challenge for us is keeping guys healthy, number one. Number two, what kind of depth do we have? Last year, in St. Louis, we had (indiscernible) and Donovan came up a lot. We had guys come up in case we were hurt, in case guys were hurt, we had guys ready.

Do we have enough big league guys ready in Triple-A or Double-A to help us at the Major League level?

We have to nail the PD side. The player development has to be good and has to get better. That's just the reality. When you have the payroll like we have, competing against monsters in the East, we have to really be good at developing our own guys.

That's what I took away a lot from my St. Louis days we had a lot of St. Louis guys on the field every single day. It wasn't just a bunch of big-name free agents. We have to be really good at that part, but getting our own guys better. That's just the reality we have to get better. And hopefully I hired the right staff around me to do that.

Q. You guys have a schedule that decreases the amount of games played within the division and fans it out more. Will that give a true representation of the team?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: I think it's really good for the fans, that's for sure, for everybody to come in and see different teams play. But, yeah, I do think -- I liked interleague when I was a player. I like interleague as a coach.

You get to see the other divisions and other ballparks and see where you stack up. It's not just in the playoffs.

Yeah, I think it's great for the fan base. It's not great for the coaches because you've got to now game plan against 29 other teams. So it's a lot more work.

But as far as, like, the players getting excited to play different teams, different stadiums, yeah, I think it's great all the way around.

Q. You have a couple of guys in the Dominican and (indiscernible) in the Caribbean. How much are you following that and how important do you think it could be for them (indiscernible)?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: Winter ball is important. I think everybody should play winter ball. It helped me in my career.

Sanchy down there, it's going to be a big winter for him. De La Cruz is having a nice year down there. There's guys that I don't think it tells the whole story. If you have a bad winter league, it's not like, oh, you're not going to be good in Spring Training.

But I think it's important to get down there and play against bigger crowds, tough competition. So I think all that is important, especially if you're young in your career. I went when I was in Double-A. So I think that part is really important.

But I don't think it tells the whole story if you have a bad winter. It's not like it just carries over and have a bad season.

Q. Have you identified, you said a few guys that were, I think you used the word "embarrassed" about the season they had last year, is there anyone in particular you identified as a bounce-back candidate for 2023 or is it still early --

SKIP SCHUMAKER: No, Javi (phonetic) is one of those guys that's not happy about how his season went. And he felt like he wasn't in shape enough to play a full season and came in not ready like he should have been. Could have been the lockout. Number of different things.

But I feel like he's the number one guy that I'm most excited about. Had dinner with him. He looks great. He's been hitting already. He's been working with Jon Jay in the outfield stuff already.

So the guy is extremely motivated and not real happy about how his season went about. And so I'm looking forward to see what he looks like in spring.

Q. Some of those Cardinal guys said they're looking forward to trash talking you in the other dugout in spring training. What do you think Spring Training will be like facing that team six, seven times, whatever?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: I expect to win every single game. (Laughter).

No, it's going to be fun. A lot of those guys, they're all friends. They're all buddies of mine. We had such a good run. Was a fun season last year. Life-long friends. And so a healthy trash talk is a good trash talk. And we'll have a lot of fun in spring training.

Q. Have you ever gone through the other entrance of the stadium?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: No, that's it. That's it. Instructional league maybe, but that was a long time ago, 2001. Maybe, but it's been a long time.