Chisholm goes deep on Rojas feud: 'Our team captain tried to get me out of here'

There is a lot to unpack from Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s 82-minute interview on The Pivot podcast, which was released on Tuesday. He covered various aspects of his personal life and professional journey. What I found most relevant to the Fish On First audience was his recollection of his first three seasons as a Miami Marlins major leaguer (2020-2022).

"My first three years in the big leagues were the worst three years of probably my life," Chisholm said. "Outside of baseball was great, but playing baseball, which that was the thing that really I loved doing more than anything else, was the worst. I got to where I wanted to get to at that point—not to the level of it yet, but I got to the big leagues—and I hate it."

Although Chisholm withheld the names of his problematic ex-teammates, he didn't go out of the way to conceal their identities. Repeatedly, he spoke disparaging about the "team captain" from that era of Marlins baseball. As anybody who followed the Fish during those seasons is aware, that was Miguel Rojas, the longtime Marlins shortstop who was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2023.

"Our team captain tried to get me out of here," Chisholm insists. "My team captain would come and tell me, 'Bro you're the best on the team, bro. Keep on going, bro. You're gonna be great. You're gonna lead us one day.' But then the next two seconds, he's in (manager Don Mattingly's) office telling the manager something, and then the manager coming and telling me, 'Bro, this is what your team captain said.'

"Our manager doesn't play that. He didn't play that B.S. garbage. The last year that I got through all that stuff, we had a team meeting and he shut it all down."

Ah yes, the infamous Marlins team meeting of June 2022. Multiple reports at the time described it as a veteran-led airing of grievances regarding Chisholm's conduct. He confirms that in here.

"It was nothing to do with baseball at all," Chisholm says. "That's what made it so wild to me—we're having a whole team meeting with guys who I don't even talk to off the field, so why are we having an off-the-field team meeting when he play baseball?"

"They wanted to put me in the box," Chisholm continued, "and it wasn't happening cuz I'm not ever gonna be put in a box." That included how he was dressing while coming to the ballpark and boarding flights.

Additionally, Chisholm vented about being the victim of hazing. He describes an incident where a veteran player (not necessarily Rojas) damaged his cleats, poured milk in them and threw them in the trash, cleats that he personally designed. He insinuated that when playing shortstop in place of an injured Rojas, first baseman Jesús Aguilar didn't always make his best effort to pick Chisholm's throws out of the dirt, negatively impacting Chisholm's defensive stats and reputation. The Marlins have since converted Chisholm into a center fielder.

There was another time when multiple vets reprimanded a recent call-up for mimicking Juan Soto's "Soto Shuffle" in the batter's box. I believe the young hitter in question was Jesús Sánchez and that the incident occurred in 2021, though the details that Chisholm provides make it difficult to fully verify that. 

At least on the position player side, the Marlins have overhauled their roster recently. Of the seven guys who played the most games for the 2022 team, five have since gone elsewhere. Don Mattingly also parted ways with the organization and was replaced by Skip Schumaker.

"We got a new manager who switched the whole thing up," Chisholm says. "He changed the whole culture...He showed me that in baseball, when you're together, you really are unstoppable."

Chisholm pointed to Luis Arraez, Josh Bell, Tim Anderson and his "best friend" Nick Gordon as current teammates who make him feel more comfortable in the clubhouse. He says he's even enjoying spring training more than usual. For what little it's worth, with a major boost from Tuesday's two-homer performance, he has posted an incredible .364/.417/.697 slash line in Grapefruit League play.

The full YouTube version of the podcast is embedded above, or you can find The Pivot wherever else you normally get your pods.