Julio Morillo ready for 'adventure' of being first-year Daytona Tortugas manager
DAYTONA BEACH — Julio Morillo didn’t stay long. Three weeks or so.
He came to the Daytona Tortugas as a Cincinnati Reds catching prospect in mid-June 2015. After four games and 15 at-bats between June 17 and July 5, he was gone, with an injured list stint and a subsequent reassignment to Triple-A Louisville. Morillo’s playing career ended the following offseason.
He had never been to Daytona Beach before the summer of 2015 and hadn’t returned since then.
Until now.
The 30-year-old was named the Tortugas’ manager in January and spent a few days in town after spring training concluded. The team opened its regular season — and Morillo's second Tortugas run — with a 7-6 victory Friday in St. Lucie.
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“I do remember,” Morillo said of his first go-round with the club. “The fans are great. The city. I took a couple at-bats and caught a couple games.”
He can’t recall any specific plate appearances or games from those few weeks. As a career backup, he didn’t receive much playing time in any of his six minor-league seasons. But in Daytona and at every other stop, he loved it.
“I always tell people when they ask me what I do for work, I say that I don’t work,” Morillo said. “They laugh, but they say ‘What do you mean you don’t work?’ I just found something that I really love and enjoy every single day that I come here to the park.”
This is all Morillo has ever wanted to do.
When he was about 5 years old in Barinas, Venezuela, his father, Cesar, bought him a wiffle ball and a plastic bat. He remembers hitting a ball so hard he fell in love with the sport instantly.
He used to get his dad’s athletic clothes and lay them out while Cesar was at work as an OB-GYN. When Cesar came home, he’d change and they’d head for a nearby park, bat and ball in tow.
“He’d always say, ‘I was tired, but when I come home and see (the clothes set out), how can I say no to Julio?’” Morillo said. “We were out there probably every single day.”
In 2010, Morillo signed with the Reds at age 17. He played 158 games for eight minor-league teams across six seasons, reaching Triple-A for one appearance in 2015. He was a good defensive catcher but hit just .212 for his career.
The Reds were going to release him in the spring of 2016 but presented him with another opportunity.
Beginning with the 2016 season, all Major League teams were required to employ an interpreter for Spanish-speaking players. The Reds offered the job to Morillo, who didn’t know English before coming to the United States as a player. He started learning through movie subtitles when he was in rookie ball.
He accepted, also adding responsibilities as a baseball operations assistant.
“I was going to live my dream of being a big leaguer,” Morillo said. “I think that was a big part of it. I didn’t make it as a player, but I was going to make it as something else. I’m grateful for the organization and to God for giving me the opportunity to live my dream of being a big leaguer.”
He remained in that role through 2019. He adored Cincinnati and met his wife, Maggie, there. But his heart was on the field. After the season, he approached the team’s front office about getting into coaching.
“I was working with super smart people, and at the same time, I was dealing with the best athletes in the game, big leaguers,” Morillo said. “I think that gives me an advantage of understanding what goes through a big leaguer’s mind throughout the whole season, so I can rely on that when an 18-year-old is going through a funk. Like, ‘Hey, even the big leaguers go through this.’”
COVID-19 altered what would’ve been his first season as the bench coach for the then-rookie-level Billings Mustangs. Instead of reporting to Montana, he spent 2020 helping at the Reds’ alternate training site in Mason, Ohio.
He worked as a player development coach in 2021 before scoring his first managerial position with the Reds’ rookie-level Arizona Complex League team in 2022. His squad won its division with many of the same players on this year’s Tortugas roster.
Now, Morillo is living in his third state in four seasons. His wife is along for the ride, arriving in Florida from Arizona late last week. They’ve been calling this minor-league life “an adventure.”
What’s still drawing Morillo to the game?
“I think the grind of doing it every single day,” he said. “Even though I love my job, it takes a toughness on your mind. And I love that. I love it because the only person who can control how I come to the park is myself.
“So I think the grind of doing it the whole year, doing it at a high level every single day that I come here and committing to be the best version of myself every day for myself, for the team, for these kids, it’s what I actually love about the game. Obviously, the wins and the losses and stuff are part of it. But I think that grind mentality makes you be the best every single day.”
Morillo will manage his first home game with the Tortugas Tuesday against Palm Beach. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. With nine of the Reds organization’s top 30 prospects on the roster, Morillo will have plenty of talent to work with in Daytona Beach.
And if all goes according to plan, he’ll stay a little longer this time.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Meet Julio Morillo, new manager of Daytona Tortugas
