Marlins test their limits to form bond beyond baseball

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.

JUPITER, Fla. -- On Sundays this spring, while you woke up at a reasonable hour, Marlins manager Skip Schumaker, bench coach Luis Urueta and other members of the organization had already finished a grueling CrossFit workout to start their day.

At 5:45 a.m., long before the sun rose and players arrived at the Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium complex to prepare for Grapefruit League action, the group completed The Murph Challenge: a one-mile run, 100 pullups, 200 pushups, 300 squats and another one-mile run. It could be done with or without a weighted vest.

Schumaker introduced the idea prior to his first year as manager last spring. He thought it could be a way to bring together Major League and Minor League personnel to build relationships through the weight room. It also didn’t hurt that strength coach Jeff Taylor had competed in CrossFit for a number of years. A winner for the fastest time isn’t anointed, but everyone tries to finish within 40 minutes.

“It doesn't make any sense,” Schumaker said. “I don't know why I decided to do it. It's torture. But I think it's just a fun way to bond.”

The group grew in size this spring after Schumaker invited someone new into the fold: director of player development Rachel Balkovec.

“I think our initial talk before she got the job, she kind of just asked what my routine is and that type of thing, and then I told her about the Sunday mornings, and she said she'd love to be able to do it with us,” Schumaker said. “The Murph is hard. That's not an easy workout, and she crushes it. And then she started inviting other people into it, which is cool. It's just a good way to get to know people, and it's more than a workout to me. The workout's a workout. It's more than that. That's when you can kind of get to know people on a more personal level.”

Balkovec was a natural fit, between her strength-coaching background and never-satisfied mentality. So often Schumaker has said he doesn’t like getting too comfortable, a sentiment that Balkovec relates to.

Since Balkovec’s trailblazing career began in 2014, she has followed an unconventional path to the front office. She was the first full-time female manager for a Major League-affiliated team, the first full-time hitting coach in an MLB organization, as well as the first full-time strength and conditioning coach in affiliated baseball.

“I don't like to be comfortable,” Balkovec said. “It feels good, and if you just look at the way that I've designed my career, I haven't stayed put much. And some people see that as a negative, but it's like me pushing myself. It wasn't an easy decision to become a hitting coach. I don't know what people think about that publicly. But like, that was terrifying in some ways. It was terrifying to become a manager in some ways.

“‘Can't I just be comfortable one time? Can't I just settle in?’ I was like, ‘I’ve got to do that. This is going to change my life. It's going to challenge me more than ever before. And I have to go do that. And I'm going to suck at it. And I'm going to be in student mode again, like, over and over and over again.’ Just putting yourself in challenging situations. And you just develop a tolerance to some degree, and it's a point of pride. When you take the challenge, it's a point of pride. So I would have to agree, and I'm definitely glad we have a manager who believes in that and echoes that to the players.”