Five things to know about Nick Gordon. And Miami Marlins announce more front office hires

With spring training set to start Thursday, the Miami Marlins continued to add to their roster on Sunday by acquiring utility player Nick Gordon from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for left-handed relief pitcher Steven Okert.

Here are five things to know about Gordon.

▪ He gives the Marlins another versatile position player: Manager Skip Schumaker embraces versatility in his position players and will have that in Gordon. Defensively, Gordon has experience playing center field (92 games, 66 starts), left field (85 games, 58 starts), second base (64 games, 50 starts) and shortstop (33 games, 15 starts). It’s a similar skill set to the likes of Jon Berti, Xavier Edwards and Vidal Brujan.

The Marlins have not yet decided what position he will play.

▪ He’s a prime candidate for a bounce-back season: After making his MLB debut in 2021, Gordon had a strong 2022 season, hitting .272 with a .743 OPS, 50 RBI, nine home runs, 28 doubles and 45 runs scored in 138 games.

His 2023 was essentially a lost year after sustaining a season-ending right shin injury in mid-May after fouling a ball off his leg.

If Gordon can return to form following the injury, he has a chance to make an instant impact on the Marlins’ lineup.

▪ He comes from a baseball family: Gordon is the son of 21-year pro Tom Gordon and the half-brother of 11-year pro (and former Marlins player) Dee Strange-Gordon.

▪ He’s under team control for four years: Gordon doesn’t become a free agent until after the 2027 season. He is set to make $900,000 this year after losing his arbitration case with the Twins prior to the trade. Gordon filed for $1.25 million.

▪ He adds to the Marlins’ crop of left-handed hitters: With Gordon, the Marlins now have five left-handed hitters on their 40-man roster along with Luis Arraez, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Jesus Sanchez and Victor Mesa Jr. They also have three switch-hitters in Josh Bell, Brujan and Edwards. This will give the Marlins more flexibility with their lineup.

More front office hires

The Marlins on Monday announced three more hires for Peter Bendix’s baseball operations department in Sara Goodrum (director of special projects), Sam Mondry-Cohen (vice president of player personnel) and Brandon Mann (pitching strategist)

Goodrum, who spent the past two seasons as the Houston Astros’ director of player development, will assist on various projects throughout the Marlins’ baseball operations department. Prior to joining the Astros, she spent five seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers from 2017-2021 and was the organization’s minor-league hitting coordinator in 2021.

Goodrum played college softball and received a bachelor’s degree in human physiology from the University of Oregon before receiving a master’s degree in exercise and sports science from the University of Utah.

Mondry-Cohen spent last season as an MLB analytics coordinator with the Chicago White Sox (2023) and was a consultant for the Philadelphia Phillies (2022). This was after spending 13 years with the Washington Nationals, including three years as an assistant general manager specializing in baseball research and development (2017-19). He started with Washington as an intern in 2009 before becoming an analyst from 2010-13 and then director of base all research and development from 2013-17.

Mann has worked with Driveline Baseball for the past two years. He was previously the pitching coordinator with the Lotte Giants of the KBO League during the 2021 campaign shortly after retiring from professional baseball in 2020.

These are just the latest hire in the Marlins’ front office since Bendix took over as president of baseball operations. Other additions have included assistant general manager Gabe Kapler, director of baseball operations Vinesh Kanthan, director of player development Rachel Balkovec and director of amateur scouting Frankie Piliere.