MIAMI — Former UC Santa Barbara Baseball player Skip Schumaker was announced as the National League Manager of the Year Tuesday night, becoming just the eighth manager to ever win the award in their first season on the job. Schumaker, the first Gaucho to ever manage a Major League Baseball team, guided his Miami Marlins squad to their best record since 2009 and an NL Wild Card berth.
 
"I dreamt of playing in the Major Leagues one day, and then I fell in love with coaching, and then I got this opportunity," Schumaker told MLB Network. "I never once during the season [was like], 'Oh, if I win two more games, I'm going to maybe have a shot of winning the Manager of the Year.' That's insane. Nobody really thinks of that. I hope not, because you shouldn't be in that seat. It was never about me. I just did whatever I could to win that day."
 
The Marlins' 84-78 record was a remarkable turnaround after a 93-loss season in 2022 and their first time finishing with a winning percentage above .500 in a 162-game season since 2009 (the team went 31-29 in the 60-game 2020 season). Miami's 2023 mark is also the fifth-best winning percentage in franchise history.
 
Schumaker played two seasons for the Gauchos before being drafted in the fifth round of the 2001 MLB Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. Schumaker's 2001 season in Santa Barbara still ranks as one of the best in Gaucho history, as he recorded 100 hits in 250 at-bats, both still program records. His .400 batting average still stands as the fifth-best season in school history, and he was unsurprisingly named to the All-Big West First Team.
 
Schumaker played 10 years in the Majors, winning two World Series rings during his time with the Cardinals from 2005-2012. After he retired from playing, he moved into coaching, accumulating five years of experience as a bench coach for the San Diego Padres (2018-2021) and the Cardinals (2022).