Jazz Chisholm Jr. Reveals 'Worst' 3 Years with Marlins and Rips Dodgers' Miguel Rojas

Miami Marlins outfielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. opened up about a toxic clubhouse culture within the organization in the early days of his career.

Appearing on The Pivot Podcast (h/t Ely Sussman of Fish on First), Chisholm said the "worst three years of probably my life" were his first three seasons in the big leagues.

"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," he explained.

Even though Chisholm didn't specifically name then-Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas, he did call out the "team captain" for trying to create division within the clubhouse at a time when Rojas was considered the leader of the team:

"Our team captain tried to get me out of here. 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."

Chisholm was acquired by the Marlins from the Arizona Diamondbacks when he was a prospect in July 2019. He made his MLB debut on Sept. 1, 2020.

The meeting referenced by Chisholm occurred in June 2022 after the Marlins went 7-19 in 26 games the previous month.

Per Barry Jackson, Jordan McPherson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald, then-manager Don Mattingly called for the meeting because he "had grown weary" of players privately complaining about their teammates and "wanted to try to resolve the issues" behind closed doors.

"One issue causing conflict among players: Some of the team's veteran players do not believe that some of the younger players are behaving professionally and following some of the team's rules," Jackson, McPherson and Mish wrote.

There were conflicting reports about the effectiveness of the meeting. One person described it as "totally chaotic," while another called it "productive."

Rojas said in the report about the meeting he didn't have any personal issue with anyone on the team, but club rules need to be followed and addressed when the team isn't playing well.

On the podcast, Chisholm described the meeting as "nothing to do with baseball at all" and others "wanted to put me in the box."

Another issue Chisholm talked about was hazing that went on, not necessarily involving Rojas, and one veteran player damaged his personally designed cleats, poured milk in them and threw them in the trash.

Rojas spent eight seasons with the Marlins from 2015 to '22. The 35-year-old was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the club he started his MLB career with in 2014, in January 2023.

The Marlins overhauled a lot of their roster after the 2022 season. Rojas, Jesús Aguilar and Brian Anderson were all starters for the club that year who were off the roster before the start of the 2023 campaign.

Mattingly parted ways with the Marlins at the end of the 2022 season. Skip Schumaker was hired as his replacement after spending the previous four years as a coach for the San Diego Padres (2018 to '21) and St. Louis Cardinals (2022).

Miami was a pleasant surprise last season with an 84-78 record. The team made the playoffs for the first time in a 162-game season since winning the 2003 World Series.

Chisholm struggled with injuries for the second straight year. He finished 2023 with a .250/.304/.457 slash line, 19 homers and 22 stolen bases in 97 games.