Clayton

McCullough

Vitale joins the Marlins after spending seven years with the Mariners, the last five as their field coordinator. He’ll work under first-year manager Clayton McCullough.

The move was rumored over the weekend and now it has become official. The 44-year-old McCullough spent the past four seasons as the Dodgers’ first base coach under Dave Roberts and spent six years before that as the club’s minor league field coordinator. McCullough has interviewed for managerial jobs before and was a finalist for the Kansas City Royals managing job that went to Matt Quatraro two years ago. He will be tasked with taking over a Marlins team that just lost 100 games in the 2024 season.

The Marlins have reportedly agreed to hire Dodgers’ first base coach Clayton McCullough to be their manager and it looks like he’s wasting no time in assembling his staff. Guerrero, 35, spent the past three seasons as an assistant hitting coach for the Giants. Prior to that, he served in the same role for the Phillies. In both roles, he was hired by manager Gabe Kapler — now the assistant general manager with the Marlins.

It’s the first managerial job for the 44-year-old, though he has interviewed for many openings over the past couple of seasons. McCullough spent the past four seasons as the Dodgers’ first base coach under Dave Roberts and spent six years prior to that as the club’s minor league field coordinator. He’ll take over the helm of a Marlins’ team that lost 100 games under Skip Schumaker during the 2024 campaign, so he’ll definitely have his work cut out for him. It wouldn’t be surprising if McCullough attempted to poach some of his Dodgers’ colleagues as he builds his staff over the next few weeks.

Rosenthal adds that Brewers bench coach Pat Murphy, Blue Jays bench coach Don Mattingly, Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough, Astros hitting coach Troy Snitker and former Braves infielder Rickie Weeks are also candidates, according to sources briefed on the club’s thinking. The sudden departure of manager Craig Counsell has opened up a vacancy in Milwaukee and it doesn’t sound like they’ve quite narrowed down their field of potential candidates.

McCullough has interviewed for plenty of other managerial openings over the last few years, so it’s not surprising to see him as a potential candidate to replace Terry Francona in Cleveland following his retirement. The 43-year-old has spent the past three seasons as a first base coach in Los Angeles after spending the previous six years as the Dodgers’ minor league field coordinator. He also spent nearly a decade as a minor league manager in Toronto’s farm system.