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How building an ‘alter life’ has helped the Marlins’ Jazz Chisholm Jr. breed confidence

During one of the early days of spring training, before the entire Miami Marlins team was set to report to Jupiter for its first official full-squad workout, Jazz Chisholm Jr. strolled to the back fields of the Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium complex. A white headband covered his forehead. Leggings stretched beyond his gym shorts and a bevy of chains dripped from around his neck.

One chain in particular stood out. This chain was green and attached to the end of it was an alien head.

“I always thought I was an alien when I was a kid,” Chisholm said. “Like, just some stuff never made sense to me.”

Jazz Chisholm Jr. is a lot of things. A mentor and role model to fellow baseball players in the Bahamas. A first-time center fielder one year removed from being named an All-Star second baseman. An MLB The Show cover athlete. A budding baseball star with the personality and flair and charisma to carry that role.

But deep inside Chisholm’s mind, there is much more. On any given day, Chisholm can feel like the aforementioned alien, the lead character of one of his favorite manga series or something else “supernatural.”

“Anything that’s like nonhuman,” Chisholm said, “I’m 100 percent into.”

All the figurative personas, however, have a common thread: Standing out from the crowd, being confident in yourself and, ultimately, letting that confidence breed success.

“Sometimes, it’s like, when you’re growing up, there’s always supposed to be a winner and a loser. I won most of the time. I was just winning without trying and stuff like that,” Chisholm said. “For me, sometimes it’s like ‘How did that happen? How do I win?’”

For the Marlins to be successful this season, for the Marlins to win, they’re going to need Chisholm to be successful — at the plate, at a new position and in keeping as much of a clean bill of health as possible while still flashing his high energy and flair that could make him a face of MLB if results mirror his own expectations. That starts Thursday when the Marlins open the 2023 season against the New York Mets at loanDepot park.

And that means Chisholm finding the balance of work and brand, serious and fun, reality and otherworldly.

“Jazz handles it the right way,” first-year Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “I think when it takes away from your work in the actual game is when guys will get in trouble. So far, Jazz has not done that. The game is the most important part of your day. The other part of it is important, too. The fans come. My son is 15 years old in California and he wants to see Jazz, which is pretty cool. We’re a six-hour flight away. There are people in Miami who are starting to understand that there’s a really special talent here that’s fun to go watch and see and he’s right in your backyard. He does a really good job of getting his work done and also interacting with the fans.”

Miami Marlins infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. talks to fans during the Miami Marlins FanFest event at loanDepot park in Miami, Florida on Saturday, February 11, 2023.
Miami Marlins infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. talks to fans during the Miami Marlins FanFest event at loanDepot park in Miami, Florida on Saturday, February 11, 2023.

Jazz being Jazz

Chisholm, as one would expect from the 25-year-old, is not lacking for confidence as he heads into his third full big-league season. He already has aspirations of winning a Gold Glove at a position he has never played in a live setting outside of spring training.

And then he takes the bar up another notch.

“I feel like if I stay healthy,” Chisholm said, “I’m gonna win MVP.”

Is that a bold claim? Or a supernatural prediction for the potential superstar?

The “stay healthy” condition is a key one here. Chisholm only played 60 games in 2022 before a stress fracture in his lower back ended his season. He also played through those 60 games with a torn meniscus in his right knee. At the time of his placement on the injured list on June 29, Chisholm led the Marlins in home runs (14), RBI (45) and runs scored (39) and was second with 12 stolen bases to go along with a .254 batting average, .535 slugging mark and .860 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. He was named an All-Star for the first time shortly after going on the IL.

Should he stay on the field, Chisholm calling his shot is just another part of his game and the latest example of his seemingly never-ending confidence.

Chisholm has been that way ever since he started playing baseball. His trust in himself began with his grandmother Patricia Coakley, who played shortstop for the Bahamian national softball team and taught him how to plan the sport when he was 2.

“She always told me when I was younger, ‘You can do this. You can do that’ and then it would happen once I tried to do it,” Chisholm said. “Then I started believing in myself even more and then I started saying it myself, that I can do this and I can do that, and it started happening. When things happen so much from what you say, you believe everything you say.”

The confidence continued as his youth baseball career unfolded.

Early on, it was hitting rocks with flat sticks in the backyard, imagining hitting home runs in big moments.

Then it was working under Geron Sands, the president and co-founder of I-ELITE Sports Academy in the Bahamas and one of Chisholm’s first baseball coaches who still remains a close friend today.

Then it was moving to the United States when he was 12 to attend high school at Life Prep Academy in Wichita, Kansas, before returning to the Bahamas, signing with the Arizona Diamondbacks as an international free agent for $200,000 in 2015, being traded to the Marlins in 2019, making his MLB debut in 2020 and becoming a regular for the Marlins in 2021.

Through it all, Sands said, Chisholm has remained unapologetically himself.

“If being yourself is being Jazz, then just be Jazz,” Sands told the Miami Herald last year after Chisholm was named an All-Star. “For me, it’s extremely pleasing and blessing for me to see him be the same person that he’s always been.”

Miami Marlins outfielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. watches on before batting practice during spring training at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Florida on Tuesday, February 21, 2023.
Miami Marlins outfielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. watches on before batting practice during spring training at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Florida on Tuesday, February 21, 2023.

Jazz and his ‘One Piece’

That includes his belief in fantasy intersecting with reality.

One example comes from Chisholm’s love of manga, Japanese comics. He grew up watching “Naruto.” His favorite now is called “One Piece,” which follows the journey of a character named Monkey D. Luffy who sets off on a journey to find a mythical treasure (the titular “One Piece”) and to become the King of the Pirates.

Chisholm likens Luffy’s journey to that of the Marlins. He views himself as Luffy — “He believes in himself so much and he knows what he wants to do in life,” Chisholm said. “That’s the same as me. That’s how I really perceive myself.”

His crew on the journey with him? That’s the rest of the Marlins, an improved roster on paper trying to compete for a playoff spot after going 69-93 last season.

The crews they face along the journey? That’s the other 29 teams in Major League Baseball, but specifically the National League East.

And the ultimate treasure, the “One Piece”? That’s a World Series.

“I try to build an alter life — not even an alter ego; an alter life — around it,” Chisholm said.

Miami Marlins outfielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. goes through fielding drills during spring training at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Florida on Tuesday, February 21, 2023.
Miami Marlins outfielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. goes through fielding drills during spring training at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Florida on Tuesday, February 21, 2023.

Jazz and center field

Back in reality, Chisholm is rooted in who he is. He admires his baseball heroes and respects those at the top of their game today, but he remains steadfast in forging his own path.

That means adding a new persona to his repertoire: Jazz Chisholm Jr. the center fielder.

It’s a move Chisholm proposed to Schumaker and general manager Kim Ng in January before the team made any of its major offseason acquisitions, a group on the position-player side that ultimately included Jean Segura, Luis Arraez and Yuli Gurriel — all infielders.

“I’m wiling to do whatever you want,” Schumaker recalled Chisholm telling him. “If you need me in center field, if you need me at shortstop, if you need me at second, whatever you need, I’m willing to help you win and help our team win.”

Chisholm has worked with outfielders coach Jon Jay ever since that informal meeting with Schumaker to try to lessen the learning curve of playing a new position. He played 15 games there this spring, logging 83 innings ahead of the season.

He is nowhere near a finished product, but the development has been noticeable.

“He’s much better than Day 1, but he’s still going,” Schumaker said. “You never stop learning. He knows that. He continues to grow and ask the right questions. ... Jazz is trending in the right direction. That’s what we need him to do is continue to get better.”

Ng added: “Defense is one of those things where when you don’t have it, that’s when you notice it. ... I feel more comfortable with Jazz [in center field] than I did earlier in the spring. Sure, there’s still some hiccups but that’s absolutely to be expected. No one here thought that this was going to be absolutely seamless.”

Well... maybe Chisholm did at first, but he understands where improvements need to be made. Each time he made a mistake during camp — a missed catch, a poorly ran route, an airmailed throw that missed a cutoff man — Chisholm immediately went and talked with the coaching staff to assess what went wrong and how to remedy it.

He’s learning from some of the best in the game, including Jay and former Marlins outfielder Juan Pierre. To Chisholm, it’s a matter of repetition and using his athleticism to his strength.

“You’re not going to be the same guy as everybody else out there,” Chisholm said. “I’m not going to be a Byron Buxton. I’m not going to be Mike Trout. I’m going to be Jazz Chisholm.”