WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- “MLB The Show” saw its realism peak thanks to Marlins right-hander Chris Paddack on Saturday afternoon.
Paddack jokingly handed new assistant pitching coach Rob Marcello one of his PlayStation 5 controllers before the club’s 5-4 Grapefruit League loss to the Astros at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches.
Since the final nine games of the 2025 campaign, the Marlins have called pitches from the dugout via their assistant pitching coach. After Alon Leichman took a promotion to be the Rockies’ pitching coach, the responsibility now lies with Marcello, who held that duty at Triple-A Jacksonville last season.
It was only a matter of time until someone pulled off the joke.
“‘Hey, go play ‘MLB The Show’ again today,’” Paddack said. “It's about having fun with this group, and that's what we've done a really good job all spring of doing. So shoutout to the coaches, the guys in the locker rooms. If we can keep this energy, it's going to be a really fun year. We're going to surprise a lot of people.”
At first skeptical about the unorthodox strategy, Paddack grew to believe in it by the end of a Zoom with Marlins brass over the offseason. He would go on to sign a one-year deal with the organization as Spring Training got underway.
“Told Rob, ‘X square, triangle and circle work pretty well, so call whatever you want. Let's have fun with it,’” Paddack said. “We kind of gave each other a hug there before I went out.”
It seems as though Marcello pushed the right buttons, because Paddack tossed three scoreless innings with two strikeouts in a 40-pitch outing. He worked around a pair of singles in the second, maxed out at 95.8 mph and threw six different pitches.
In three Grapefruit League starts, Paddack hasn’t allowed an earned run while scattering four hits and striking out six with one walk and one hit-by-pitch in six frames. One of Paddack’s objectives is to work on a new sweeper, which he said recorded its most horizontal movement of the spring. Paddack also used his sinker and four-seamer to induce weak contact and mixed in his cutter.
“The old Chris I don't think does that, because I'm still a little timid. I'm not myself,” Paddack said. “But this group, they really have welcomed me with open arms, and they believe in me, and when you have a staff and some guys that believe in you, that's whenever you can really find those ceilings for guys. Rob and our pitching coaches and our catchers have been nothing but that for me, and it's starting to show a little bit, and I'm having fun.
“Entering my eighth season, [I’ve] got to have fun, man. It goes by too fast. So shoutout to those guys. And definitely can't wait. Rob was locked in. Can't wait to hear what he says. … I'm excited to talk to him tomorrow and see what his honest takes were with the controller.”
Paddack’s playful ribbing is the most recent exchange between the pair.
Earlier this spring, Marcello wore cowboy boots for Paddack’s pitch design session on the backfields. Paddack, who received the nickname “The Sheriff” from Padres fans during his rookie season, arrives at the ballpark on start days wearing cowboy boots and a hat.
“The feeling is excitement,” Marcello wrote to MLB.com. “Building relationships in Spring Training takes work. It started with me wearing cowboy boots and talking about enjoying coming to the field every day. As coaches, our job is to push guys to get better and create an environment for growth, so when someone respected around the league buys into that, it means a lot. It’s a long season.
“Today, he made me smile and realize we’re in this together. And when I say we, I mean the entire organization. I just happen to be the one in the dugout ‘playing MLB The Show,’ like Chris says.”