Meet the Marlins' new assistant GM

This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola's Marlins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Last week's General Managers Meetings took place in Las Vegas, where front offices convened to get an idea of what other clubs are hoping to achieve this offseason.

Miami's contingent included new assistant general manager Oz Ocampo, whose former club, the Astros, just won the World Series for the second time in six years. It has been a crash course in all things Marlins for Ocampo, who credits fellow assistant GMs Brian Chattin and Dan Greenlee for catching him up on the baseball operations side.

Following Skip Schumaker's introductory press conference on Nov. 3, GM Kim Ng expressed her hope that Schumaker's and Ocampo's presence would expedite the Marlins' trajectory. Not only do they come from a history of winning but they also provide fresh perspectives.

"It's exciting to be able to work alongside him," Chattin told MLB.com. "I had heard such good things about him just through the industry over the years. He's got a wealth of experience with different organizations and different aspects of baseball operations. So he comes in as an experienced voice who's obviously just left the team that won the World Series. So he comes in with perspective and experience that is going to be valuable for us.

"I put huge value on [different voices] because of the perspective of my career. I've been with this organization for almost the entirety of my career, and I feel fortunate to have that stability. But I've also recognized when individuals come into our organization from other clubs, they bring a fresh perspective. It's different than those of us that have been here, and I value that because the goal is to be the best possible organization we can be, and fresh perspectives, and different viewpoints are extremely valuable and certainly appreciated."

Ocampo's career has included stops with the Cardinals (2005-09), Major League Baseball Commissioner's Office ('10-11) and the Pirates ('20-22), where he was able to conduct player evaluation across all areas: amateur, pro, free agency and trades. A self-described evaluator "first and foremost," Ocampo also took time to earn an MBA once he saw the importance of having an analytics foundation in the front office.

But Ocampo's decade with the Astros (2012-20, '22) has been the most fruitful, beginning with the early stages of a rebuild and blossoming into a powerhouse. Many of the difference-makers were homegrown players acquired via the Draft or international signings. He hopes to bring that experience to his new club.

"Obviously had a great run with the Astros, just learned a lot," Ocampo said. "Just the focus on scouting and player development I think is the biggest thing, and then alignment with R&D analytics and making sure that's aligned top to bottom and across all areas -- whether that's amateur, international, Major League, what have you. But having that alignment and really focusing on bringing young players to the organization and helping them maximize their potential in any way possible I think is really critical.

"And then the other piece that I think is incredibly important is just working with good people and just working with good people across the board. I was fortunate to work with a very diverse, dynamic group in Houston, and a lot of people that have gone on to a lot of bigger and better things."

Ocampo first met Ng during his tenure with the Commissioner's Office, and though his time with the Cardinals overlapped with Schumaker's, he was mostly working in the Dominican Republic. That familiarity was appealing. So was Ng's and chairman/principal owner Bruce Sherman's commitment to winning. Once Ocampo did his own research, he also liked the potential he saw with the Marlins.

"Just the quality of the starting pitching that we have is really incredible," Ocampo said. "It's not only Minor Leagues and big leagues, but it's also top end, middle end, bottom end, which is all important. I go back to this statistic that I saw earlier that the two top teams in FanGraphs WAR for starting pitching were the Astros and the Phillies this year. We have that great foundation. It's about helping the offensive side and continuing to improve in that area. But we've got a great foundation of young starting pitching to work from."