Marlins Manager Clayton McCullough Gets Candid After Frustrating Cubs Loss
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For the second straight year, the Miami Marlins are in the National League wild-card race into September. However, a 6-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Friday night at home reinforces one thing that is becoming a reality: Miami will have to go through some growing pains to get where they want to be.
That was never more evident than with the first baseman Deyvison De Los Santos. While Kyle Stowers deals with a hamstring injury again, Chicago had runners at the corners in the second inning, and rather than throwing home to cut the Cubs' run down, De Los Santos tried to turn a double play but just got one out.
Then, De Los Santos led off the bottom of the third inning with a double, but was cut down trying to go to third base on a ground ball to shortstop Nico Hoerner. Certain base-running rules in baseball are taught in Little League and one of them is not going to third base with fewer than two outs on a ground ball on the left side of the infield with the play in front of you. They are inning killers.
Marlins Manager Clayton McCullough Drops Honest Quote After Cubs Loss
Second-year manager Clayton McCullough has been around the game long enough to know that young teams will all go through growing pains. This is one of those seasons for the Marlins. He was honest after Friday night's loss, which has Miami 3.5 games behind the San Diego Padres for the third and final NL wild-card spot.
“Having young players come up here and contribute is and has been and will continue to be important for us. So I think what comes with that is, there are learning curves and moments as guys get themselves adjusted,” McCullough said, per Christina De Nicola of MLB.com. “Myself and our staff, our job is just to continue to coach that, because there's certainly a lot of talent, and I think it's a good thing.''
Are the Marlins in the same conversation with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies when it comes to National League contenders? No, and McCullough would likely admit that.
However, there are growing pains that some teams must endure to get over the hump and have it pay off down the line. Miami does have a lot of young talent and with the right additions around them, it may not be too long before they are in the conversation with those other teams.
Growing pains are hard, but necessary. Down the line, the Marlins will find out that growing pains will someday pay off.
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