Kim Ng notices an ‘enthusiasm’ at Marlins spring training. The goal? Turn that into wins
They made their way from field to field on Tuesday, trying to catch a glimpse of as many players as they could with their full team in the same place for the first time in spring training.
General manager Kim Ng, in her first spring training with the Miami Marlins, stood in a striped blue polo and khaki pants behind the batting cage on Field 3 of the Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium complex as several of the team’s top prospects — Jose Devers and Jesus Sanchez among them — took batting practice.
CEO Derek Jeter, in his fourth spring training as part of the Marlins’ front office overseeing the rebuild he helped implement, talked with a host of players, Jazz Chisholm, Monte Harrison, Lewis Brinson, Brian Anderson and Starling Marte among them.
Manager Don Mattingly, heading into his sixth season with the team, got eyes on outfielder Adam Duvall for the first time since he officially signed as a free agent last week.
“There’s a real energy and a real enthusiasm, a real eagerness to go get after it,” Ng said. “... I can sense they just wanted to get out there and were raring to go.”
The expectations were set a week earlier on an organization-wide Zoom call before the first pitchers and catchers workout. Jeter, Ng and majority owner Bruce Sherman all spoke on the virtual meeting — one of the few avenues to hold such an assembly during the age of COVID-19 and social distancing.
Five weeks from now, these players will form the backbone of the Marlins’ quest to follow up on their 2020 playoff run, the first for this team since 2003.
“It was a little surreal being on Zoom with all these guys, and it was hard to really get a sense from them how they were feeling,” Ng said. “I think once you get out here and you’re live, you definitely get the vibe. I think the message was that this is a fresh start for everybody. There was a lot of grit and resilience that we saw last year that we just hope to build on it. The other thing we pressed upon them is this is about their careers and they should take each day with care and that relates also as well as with COVID, making sure were all really careful.”
The grit and resilience has been mentioned ad nauseam. The Marlins maneuvered through a COVID-19 outbreak the first week of the shortened 2020 season, dealt with more than 170 transactions and had a franchise-record 18 players make major-league debuts.
Through it all, they found their way to the postseason.
“At the end of the day, third baseman Brian Anderson said, “winning is more fun than anything. That showed last year even with the conditions that we were pushing through. Winning those baseball games made it all worth it.”
Ng, at least early on, is acting as a fly on the wall. She’s trying to observe from a distance while she finally gets an opportunity to meet players face to face.
She’s also adapting to getting back into the spring training grind — something she was accustomed to for 13 years of her career as an assistant general manager with the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers — after spending the past decade at MLB’s central office.
“It’s my first spring training as a general manager,” Ng said, “but it’s also my first spring training in a long time. I think that definitely adds to it. As I’ve said here for the last week or so with these guys, it all comes back to me really naturally. In my head, I’ve thought ‘This is what I’ve done for most of my career’ and nothing has taken me by surprise yet, which is a good thing ... The only thing that’s really different is now you get to make the decisions.”
And there are decisions to be made.
The final spot in the starting rotation — or final two spots, if the Marlins want to say Sixto Sanchez isn’t a lock.
Defining roles for an overhauled bullpen that is bound to have at least five new faces.
A starting second baseman, with Isan Diaz and Chisholm the main contenders.
Two bench spots, primarily fourth and fifth outfielders.
It will all unfold over the next month.
“Last year was great,” Mattingly said “but obviously we know that’s not where we want to end up. We just have to get back to work, take last year as a stepping stone but now keep moving forward.”
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