MIAMI -- Thursday’s series finale against the Pirates was one of those rare off-days for Marlins rookie Joe Mack.
Through his first 74 big league games, Mack has proven to be a difference-maker both at the plate and behind the dish. Entering Thursday’s 13-1 loss, Mack ranked first in the National League in fielding run value (8), first in the Majors in runners caught stealing (19) and third in fWAR (1.9) for primary catchers since making his Major League debut on May 4.
As a result, manager Clayton McCullough tries to start Mack as often as possible. His emergence led to Liam Hicks becoming the backup and eventually being moved via trade to Tampa Bay.
“What Joe has brought, we've seen it,” McCullough said. “We've seen how our team has been elevated and how we've played, how we've pitched since Joe has been up here, and I don't think that's [a] coincidence. He's been phenomenal.”
Mack started 38 of 47 team games (81 percent) to open his career. Since the Deadline, he has started six of nine.
This schedule differs from the one Mack followed at Triple-A Jacksonville before his callup. He was usually two games on, then two days off. There would be one or two games sprinkled in as the designated hitter.
“It's obviously a lot more,” Mack said. “Just making sure that I'm ready for each day. ... Even when I'm not playing, there's a chance for you to get in there. So making sure that I'm ready and able to give my best effort when I go in, I think that's a task in itself, alongside the amount of days I've been catching behind the plate.”
In order to handle this type of workload, the 23-year-old Mack has keyed in on his recovery, hydration, sleep (8-10 hours a night) and nutrition, with the nudging of the organization. Mack, who has a sweet tooth, is trying to cut down on unhealthy food (Sour Patch Kids are his favorite).
Ahead of a Saturday ballgame in Queens during the last road trip, Mack got in a big breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs, chocolate chip pancakes, banana bread and a bagel to go along with coffee.
“The past two years, I would say, I came in at like 210 [pounds] in Spring Training, feeling good, feeling pretty healthy and all that, and my body weight would trickle down to like 201, 195, and there was a problem,” Mack said. “That was something that I found out pretty quickly. …
“It's weird because for the last two years, I've played well at a lower weight. Obviously, it's a lot better when I'm a higher weight because I can use less effort and still have the same amount of power, speed, all that stuff that I'm trying to achieve. I definitely notice it a little bit.”
Although the Jumbo Shrimp played into mid-September last year en route to the Triple-A national championship, this will be the furthest into the season Mack has ever gone.
If the Marlins continue to remain in the National League Wild Card picture, Mack will be relied upon on a near-daily basis.
“Joe is recovering well,” McCullough said. “He's feeling strong. He's young, too, so I think we have that on our side. He's still a young man. He probably could catch every game right now, but we know there's a tax he'll end up paying on that. Just kind of go into each game, each series with a plan, and if we have to audible off that and change a game, he may start or may not start based on how things are going and how we use him, we'll just react that way.”
It is up to McCullough to decide when to give Mack a breather. In certain instances, like Wednesday’s win, he was taken out early with Miami up big. In other cases, he entered the game as a defensive replacement.
Indications of when it might be time to give Mack a day come in the form of offensive and defensive performance. The good thing is Mack has conditioned his body well enough to be ready to catch as much as he has.
“He's generally handled both the offensive and defensive side pretty consistently throughout the course of the workload,” catching coach Craig Driver said. “With a lot of younger catchers, you see their catching's fine and their offense really starts to falter when they catch too much, or they're still hitting but they're not catching as well as they need to catch.”