This February is not only Black History Month, but also the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues, which were born on Feb. 13, 1920.

Michael Hill, the Marlins' president of baseball operations, wakes up every day thankful for those who have made an impact on his baseball career.

Hill started his front-office career with the Rays in 1995 as an assistant in the scouting and player development departments. He then joined the Rockies' front office in 2000 as the club’s director of player development before joining the Marlins in '02 as an assistant general manager. Hill worked his way up to GM by '07, before becoming Miami's president of baseball operations in '13.

“I feel like I’m blessed,” Hill said via telephone. “I’m thankful and grateful for all the people who impacted me throughout my career.”

As the only African American atop a baseball operations department, Hill knows he is a role model in the game.

“Anyone who is in the position of leadership, you want to do the best that you can because you are a role model for so many in the game,” Hill said. “I take every opportunity that I can and try to pay it forward and educate the next generation who might aspire to be in my position. … I want to do everything in my power to make sure we continue to grow.”

As Black History Month comes to a close, Hill hopes he provides inspiration and is happy to lend guidance to anyone who might be working to follow in his footsteps.

“Never settle. Always continue to push,” Hill said. “Don’t take anything for granted. If that’s what you want, don’t stop until you get it. … I got my opportunity in the front office because all I did was ask people questions. Every scout that I saw, I asked them about how they started. I asked them what they studied because I wanted to understand how I could put myself in the best position to get where they are.”

Hill currently finds himself in the last season of his contract, and his boss, CEO Derek Jeter, said on Monday that he's looking for the rebuilding Marlins to turn the corner.

“We need to make progress,” Jeter said. “We need to turn the corner. We have to get better. Guys have to get better. You have to improve. If you’re a young player that’s here in camp trying to make a name for yourself, you’re trying to win a job and you’re trying to keep a job, you have to get better and you have to produce.”

This is not news to Hill -- it’s been the theme of Miami's entire offseason -- and he said he has been approaching his job the same way: Simply do what’s right for the Marlins. Aware of the heightened expectations, Hill worked harder than ever this winter to make sure that Miami would be more competitive. This is a team that lost 105 games in 2019, but by the sound of his voice, Hill expects things to be different.

Hill made improvements by acquiring Jonathan Villar, Jesús Aguilar and Corey Dickerson. These players are expected to help the Marlins improve their run production, which finished 29th in the Major Leagues last season.

Miami's rotation is led by right-hander Sandy Alcantara, who is the ace of the staff. The team is hoping he can take his game to another level. After all, this was a guy who made the All-Star team last season. The Marlins hope they have more strike-throwers in the bullpen after acquiring Brandon Kintzler and Yimi Garcia.

“We are trying to catch those Nationals up there. They are the defending World [Series] champs,” Hill said. “The second that [chairman and principal owner] Mr. [Bruce] Sherman and Derek Jeter came aboard, the goal is always to build an organization that -- year in and year out -- is competing for championships.

“It’s time to turn that corner at the Major League level. Ultimately, it’s about winning championships at the Major League level. As good as your Minor League system is, you need to win games at the Major League level. We are very mindful of the upper [Minor League] level, talent and prospects that we have, but we wanted to get better at the Major League level. … We feel like we made a number of moves that makes us a better team at the Major League level, that is going to give the rest of our division a lot of problems. We feel we are putting ourselves in a position to win a significant amount of games during the 2020 season.”