Marlins’ hitting coach leaves. And Sherman weighs in ‘disappointing’ drafting, Ng, more

Marlins hitting coach Brant Brown left the organization after one season to join the Seattle Mariners staff, multiple sources confirmed Thursday.

Brown is expected to get a bigger title with the Mariners, similar to an offensive coordinator job. That position is believed to come with a raise over what he was paid with the Marlins.

In a pitcher-friendly ballpark, the Marlins last season were 26th in runs scored and were 19th with a .316 on-base percentage and .405 slugging mark — better than in 2022, when they finished 27th in OBP and 28th in slugging percentage before manager Skip Schumaker and Brown were hired after that 2022 season. Brown was previously the Dodgers’ hitting coach.

Marlins assistant hitting coach John Mabry, a former big-league player, is close with Schumaker and is a strong candidate to become the team’s new hitting coach. Several players praised the Marlins hitting coaches - and Schumaker, who won National League Manager of the Year — for how they prepared them for particular pitchers.

SHERMAN WEIGHS IN

Marlins owner Bruce Sherman touched on several issues this week in discussing the hiring of former Tampa Bay Rays general manager Peter Bendix as the Marlins’ president/baseball operations:

▪ On his decision to hire a president/baseball operations: “I wanted a president of baseball operations for a long time. It’s a very, very complex job. It’s not just about the 26 man, 40 man roster. If you don’t get international signings right and the amateur draft right and player development right and analytics right, it’s [not good]. It’s a complex job.”

▪ On Kim Ng’s decision to leave the general manager job after Sherman informed her that a president/baseball operations would be hired to head the department:

“I exercised her option. I was hoping Kim would stay. I wish Kim nothing but the best. She’s a terrific lady. It’s not lost to me we were in the playoffs. She will be just fine. We had hours and hours of conversations. She made the election not to continue. I respect that decision she made.”

▪ On the team’s lack of high-level success in the amateur draft, in the wake of the Marlins recently dismissing amateur scouting director D.J. Svihlik:

“Our drafting has been disappointing overall, especially domestic drafting. We have to do better. It’s no secret you have to get your first and second round draft picks right. You must develop players. We had two drafted players on the roster this year - Nick [Fortes] and [Andrew] Nardi. We have to do better than that. They’re young, in the controllable phase of their career. We have to do better.”

▪ Sherman has mentioned that Tampa Bay — which has had sustained regular season success with one of baseball’s lowest payrolls - has produced several top baseball executives and “whatever secret sauce [Bendix] has, he’s not about to say it publicly but hopefully he will bring that to this organization over multiple years.

“His knowledge of our players before he came to the interview was extraordinary. He knew as much about our 40 man roster as I think I did. He comes from an organization that they hire people and teach them baseball. They just grow baseball executives.

“Everybody thinks Tampa is analytics, analytics. And yes they have a much bigger analytics department than we have and yes they have a much bigger front office.”

Sherman said “what struck us” about Bendix and the Rays was “the ability to develop players primarily… through the amateur draft and international draft. He talked about that with great depth and how you can build a front office and how a dollar can be spent.”

Sherman said he also was impressed by Bendix’s “knowledge of how front offices should operate, his embracing technology in baseball.”

▪ Sherman indicated he hasn’t meddled and won’t with Bendix.

“I’m going to let him do his job. I’m always available 24/7. I don’t want to get in his way. I will weigh in when I have to but it will be infrequent. I will let him do his job, as I have... He will get evaluated over time like anyone else. [Being a president of baseball operations for a team is] by far the most complex job anywhere in baseball. It has so many moving parts.”

▪ Sherman declined to give a projected 2024 payroll number; the Marlins’ $105.4 million was 22nd in baseball this past season.

“We talked a little bit about payroll,” Sherman said, adding that Bendix is “going to have to evaluate all of that. He had an opinion on everything.”

Sherman said the decision not to make a qualifying offer for free agent Jorge Soler was made by assistant GMs Brian Chattin, Dan Greenlee and Oz Ocampo, who all remain with the team.

▪ Sherman said the Marlins are trying to make their success “sustainable. I want to be in the playoffs every year. It’s tough. I’ll take two out of the last four years. That’s a pretty good average.”