Chip Hale on Dave Martinez, analytics, Max Scherzer and more

It didn't take long for Dave Martinez's coaching staff to come together. Barely two weeks after Martinez was introduced as Dusty Baker's successor, he and general manager Mike Rizzo assembled a staff deep in savvy baseball men that included a pair of former managers, first base coach Tim Bogar, who skippered the Rangers for 22 games late in the 2014 season, and bench coach Chip Hale, who managed the Diamondbacks for the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

Martinez and his coaches - Hale, pitching coach Derek Lilliquist, hitting coach Kevin Long, assistant hitting coach Joe Dillon, Bogar, third base coach Bobby Henley, and bullpen coach Henry Blanco - recently convened for a getting-to-know-you weekend at the team's spring training headquarters in West Palm Beach, Fla. Hale came away impressed with the knowledge and passion displayed by the first-year Nationals manager's staff.

"I've managed, Tim Bogar's managed," Hale said over the weekend at Nationals Winterfest. "The ego part of it has to go away. And I think one thing ... Davey has really stressed with us is not to be afraid to step across the line of - a lot of times you're the infield guy and you're coaching a base, ... and that's what you do, you stay in your lane. Here, we really want to, if Tim's coaching first and he sees something with a pitcher, if he's doing something to tip off, going to the plate where guys are stealing bases against him, he can go to Derek Lilliquist and say, 'Hey, this is what I'm seeing.' As the bench coach, I can go to any of the coaches and not be offended by it. I think one thing in our game, you're like, 'Go to the manager, go to the bench coach, then come to me.' We're not afraid because we're all on equal footing to step across there and say, 'Hey, this is what we're seeing,' "

What Hale describes is a tactic favored by longtime Rays and Cubs manager Joe Maddon called cross-pollination, which allows for coaches to interact in areas beyond their normal scope of responsibilities. It's not a surprise that Martinez has implemented something he learned from the guy he served under as a bench coach for eight years. And Hale thinks that apprenticeship will serve Martinez well.

"I think being with Joe (Maddon), he's learned the game has changed a lot since we both played," Hale said. "(Martinez) is going to be really, really good in the clubhouse in earning their respect. Listen, we can't hit, we can't throw anymore - other than in batting practice. So we depend on these guys for our livelihood and to get them to play at the peak performance that we can. I think he knows, being with Joe and just watching, he knows the buttons to push and the personal relationships that we all have to develop. I think you could call him a players' manager, if you want to. But I think he's going to be a bit of a disciplinarian in there, too. I think he's got some toughness that's going to be good and guys are going to respect that."

Likewise, Hale expects Martinez to bring Maddon's affinity for analytics to the Nationals, a team that has invested heavily in baseball's newfangled statistical applications under Rizzo.

"We will rely on it heavily," Hale said. "You have trust your gut as a manager, in the end, but it has to be educated gut. So the analytics that we'll get, we'll get everything, we'll filter down to what they players need and sometimes you need that. ... You get emotional about things, whether you're the manager or the coaches, and sometimes you step back and look at what you have on paper and trust that as much as you do your gut. We'll use it and we'll use it as much as we can get. We don't want to fall behind other clubs. It's not a good feeling when you go out there and you feel like the other team has better information than you. And we feel like our analytics department that Mike's put together is really good."

The fact that Martinez and his new staff are inheriting a team that has won four National League East titles in six years, a mix of dependable veterans and up-and-coming young players, doesn't hurt, Hale added.

"It's an unbelievable roster. It's got veterans, it has a lot of young kids, guys that are going to be really, really good," Hale said. "Remember, I managed in Arizona and Michael Taylor beat my team two or three times with walk-off grand slams, walk-off home runs. He's not one of your main guys on this ballclub as of right now. When you have guys like that who are hitting in the sixth, seventh or eighth or wherever they're going to hit, knowing that they're game-changers, it's incredible. So talent is what wins games, let's face it, and there's enough talent here to win the World Series. So that's what we're shooting for."

Does the fact that Martinez has no professional managerial experience work against him in his first gig?

"There's definitely an adjustment," Hale said. "We've seen it of late, where guys are coming out of nowhere to be managers, whether it's out of the booth, whether it's out of player development, not even coaching. So here's a guy that's earned his way. He's coached, he's been the bench coach now for years and years under what we all feel, in coaching and managing, is one of the best managers in baseball. So if there's anybody that's ever deserved this opportunity, it's him."

While Hale will use spring training in West Palm Beach to get to know the Nationals roster better, he's got some relationships already established. Hale, then third base coach with the D-backs, managed right-hander Max Scherzer in the Arizona Fall League in 2007 with the Scottsdale Scorpions.

"We fought in Arizona whether he was going to be a reliever," Hale said. "The trainers, they weren't sure he could start. When I was a manager in Arizona, I told our trainers that were there, 'Well, that's one of the big mistakes we made, letting him go.' We knew early on with Max that he had an IQ baseball-wise way above most guys and sometimes above most coaches. He's a thinker, just like Daniel Murphy - they're a lot alike - they are always trying to get better. He won the Cy Young and I guarantee you, he's going to figure out a way, or try to find a way, to be better than he was last year. "

That's what Hale wants the Nationals to do in 2018: Find a way to be better than they were in 2017. He saw an inkling of what was to come back in 2011, when he was a third base coach with the Mets.

"Sometimes, you got to put your stamp on it," Hale said. "Our stamp, hopefully, will be winning a World Series. That's where this organization needs to go. I was with the Mets when this thing all started. From across the field, you could see it - I think it was '11 - uh-oh, these guys are going to get good now."