LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers are losing a key member of their World Series-winning coaching staff.
First-base coach Clayton McCullough has been chosen as the next manager of the Miami Marlins, according to multiple reports. McCullough had interviewed for multiple managerial positions over the past couple of offseasons. He leaves for a Marlins team that finished last in the National League East last season. Only two teams — the Chicago White Sox (41-121) and Colorado Rockies (61-101) — won fewer games than the Marlins (62-100) in 2024.
McCullough, 44, spent the past 10 years in the Dodgers’ organization, the past four on the major-league staff. In addition to first-base coaching duties, McCullough worked with the team’s outfielders and was also the point man for finding tendencies the team could exploit in base stealing.
In that capacity, McCullough worked closely with Shohei Ohtani who stole 59 bases in 2024. Mookie Betts has also called McCullough his “favorite coach ever” and had him throw to him at the 2023 All-Star Home Run Derby.
Related Articles
Will Roki Sasaki be the Dodgers’ next Japanese import?
The Audible: Are the Dodgers really going after Juan Soto? Is it a good idea?
Clayton Kershaw has knee, toe surgeries as expected
Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani unlikely to pitch early in 2025 after shoulder surgery
Funeral mass honored Dodgers great Fernando Valenzuela: ‘He was our hero in LA’
A 22nd-round draft pick out of East Carolina by Cleveland in 2002, McCullough spent four seasons in the minors, playing little as a catcher. He started his coaching career in the Toronto Blue Jays organization and managed teams in the Jays’ system from 2006 through 2014 before moving to the Dodgers organization as a minor-league field coordinator under Gabe Kapler, the Dodgers’ director of player development at the time.
Kapler is currently an assistant general manager with the Marlins.
McCullough joined the major-league staff in 2021 after George Lombard left to become bench coach of the Detroit Tigers.