Miami Marlins run on Dunkin’? Rookies make coffee and doughnut run before Cubs game

Trevor Rogers, the Miami Marlins’ standout rookie pitcher and early frontrunner for the National League Rookie of the Year, got the message from Miguel Rojas around 8 a.m. Saturday.

Once the team got to Wrigley Field for its Saturday afternoon game with the Chicago Cubs, Rogers and the rest of the Marlins’ rookies were going on a coffee and doughnut run to pick up breakfast for the rest of the team.

So around 10:30 a.m., off they went. Nine rookies in full gameday gear — black jerseys, black caps and gray pants — on a field trip to the Dunkin’ Donuts across the street from the ballpark.

“Everyone’s done it,” Rogers said. “It’s part of the whole rookie deal.”

The full group that went: Rogers, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Anthony Bender, Zach Pop, Zach Thompson, Jesus Sanchez, Lewin Diaz, Luis Marte and Cody Poteet.

“Sending the young players and the rookies to do something like that is always fun,” said Rojas, who returned to the active roster Friday after missing 18 games. “This is the best place to do it, I think — being at Wrigley and in Chicago. It’s a good experience for them and we had a little fun with all the guys. It was fun to do it again. It’s a tradition that we’ve been doing for a long time so I’m happy that we got, we got to do it again.”

They picked up three dozen doughnuts, an order of Munchkins and 18 total coffees (11 iced, seven hot, including one with “a dash of cinnamon” for Spanish media liaison Luis Dorante Jr.) for the teammates and staff members that requested. All told, it cost about $80. Rojas picked up the tab, giving Pop the list with the order and entrusting Rogers with his credit card to make the purchase.

“He’s the most responsible guy,” Rojas said of Rogers.

“I didn’t let that card out of my sight,” Rogers said. “It felt really good in my back pocket. A metal card, not plastic.”

It also represents the latest bonding experience that players didn’t have last year.

COVID-19 protocols for the shortened 2020 season made it tough for players and teammates to interact away from the ballpark. Most of the time, they were secluded to hotel rooms on the road. They weren’t allowed to get to the ballpark as early as usual either, making chances to build friendships away from the gameday grind tough.

“The better relationships you have with your teammates on and off the field, I think it’s just easier to deal with things that come up throughout the season,” reliever Richard Bleier said. “If you’re just essentially co-workers, inevitably you’re gonna have issues arise as you put together 30 people in a room for 12 hours a day. I think if you have a prior relationship, and just have a good working relationship, it just makes things much easier throughout the season.”

As the group walked back to the ballpark, with baseball fans and passersby alike, they got a rousing ovation from their teammates watching from a perch at the ballpark awaiting their freshly purchased pregame meal.

“That was not planned really,” Bleier said of the spontaneous greeting, “but it worked out well. There was just kind of a nice sitting area out there and then we realized that they were on their way back, so we waited for him to come back and ended up being a funny thing there getting to cheer them on.”

It’s a moment of levity as the Marlins hope to build on Friday’s 10-2 win to begin the three-game series. The win, fueled by two Adam Duvall home runs, was just Miami’s second in its past 13 road games.

“We haven’t been having playing good on the road, but whatever. We had a really good game [Friday],” Rojas said. “All the guys are feeling better about our team.”