Fatherhood gives Shomon new perspective on the game

This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola's Marlins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The best part of Marlins assistant hitting coach Derek Shomon’s day is when he looks down at his phone and sees an incoming FaceTime call from his 2-year-old son Micah, who is back home in the suburbs of Chicago.

Long distance is part of the gig for those who work in baseball, and the Shomon family is no exception. Their circumstances, however, are more unique.

On March 3, 2023, 11 days before Shomon’s wife, Keriann, was due with Micah, she underwent an emergency C-section. Though there were no early signs of trouble, Micah would later be transferred to the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit when several of his organs began failing. He would go on to sustain right-side brain damage that still affects his left-side motor skills.

For nearly four weeks, Shomon remained with Keriann and Micah as doctors tried to rule out various conditions. Hospital rooms became his office, as he mentored Minnesota’s hitters at Spring Training in Florida from afar during his early days as the Twins’ assistant hitting coach.

“The biggest takeaway is I want to be as present for him as possible, as patient, especially given the diagnosis,” Shomon said. “It's a constant learning curve, for sure.”

It’s tricky because Shomon has been in season for most of the past three years -- from when Keriann found out they were pregnant to now. He has figured out how to help despite the distance. For example, when Keriann wasn’t feeling great during the pregnancy, he DoorDashed Pedialyte popsicles. When doctors spoke in complicated medical terms, Shomon used his strong listening and communication skills.

Being a provider is what Shomon believes is the most important role of a father, something he didn’t experience much, having an abusive dad who died of oral cancer when he was eight. Shomon credits everyone from his older brother, Jarrod, to little league coaches for being father figures.

“It scared the hell out of me, honestly,” Shomon said of becoming a dad. “It's very real. It's important to talk about, being totally vulnerable. I think for a long time, deep down I knew I wanted to be [a father] but was so scared of failing as one that I disregarded my desire to do it and work through it, just as every other father does when you have a kid for the first time.”

Added Keriann: “Super loving and eager to learn. He's really nervous to be a dad with his upbringing, but totally open to learn about different parenting techniques and styles and really trying to figure out what works for him and what works for us.”

Over the offseason, Shomon and his therapist brainstormed ways to stay in contact from afar. They worked on rewiring his thoughts to alleviate guilt.

Due to baseball’s marathon schedule, Shomon mainly provides financially and through MLB’s insurance to give Keriann and Micah every resource available. Since Micah was recently diagnosed with cerebral palsy and goes to physical and occupational therapy every other week, speech therapy every week, and recently attended Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT), it’s easier to remain in Chicago, where his doctors are. Micah is walking, but he has ankle foot orthosis braces and a brace that covers his left arm.

After the family unsuccessfully attempted FaceTime calls last year, they tried again this season. It has worked with an older Micah, who requests to see his dad by pushing a button on his Augmentative and Alternative Communication device.

Micah will want a high-five from Dad, and Shomon will, in turn, ask him to hug Keriann or Harley, the family’s golden retriever. Though Micah doesn’t yet grasp that Shomon coaches for a career, he associates the MLB and Marlins logos with Dad.

“A lot of the times, he just sits on the phone and just stares at Derek, and it's like the sweetest thing,” Keriann said. “Obviously, he's not talking, but he's just sitting there staring and smiling at him. And it's so sweet.

“At 2 years old, he wakes up every morning and he signs, ‘Where's Dad?’ And I'm always like, ‘Oh, Dad's at work.’ He does know. If I'm like, ‘Oh, we're going to watch Dad's baseball game,’ he'll sign, ‘Dad,’ point to the TV. When we're at the baseball games, that’s Dad down there.”

As fate would have it, the Marlins’ schedule presented an off-day and six straight games this May in Chicago. Micah and Keriann attended each, and it harkened back to Shomon’s favorite memory: him and Micah in matching Twins City Connect jerseys from last year’s Father’s Day, serving as a reminder of what matters most.

Keriann draws parallels between Shomon as a dad and as a coach. From the kids he mentors at his Athletes HQ facility to the Marlins to Micah, Shomon cares and puts in the time.

“That's the perspective I think you always chase,” Shomon said. “To sit here and say that I live in that the entire time would be a lie. It's a challenge, right? We care about what we do. We care about taking care of these guys. We care about coaching them to the best of our abilities because these are all once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. These guys have worked super hard to get to where they're at, just as the coaching staff has. We want to be the best that we can be.

“And you carry the losses, and you carry the struggles, and you carry the failures, and you stay up late at night thinking about stuff, and you prepare long in the mornings to get guys ready to go for first pitch. All of that said, you do have to ground yourself and come back and be like, ‘At the end of the day, this is what's waiting for me at home, and this is what truly matters.’ And it does. Sometimes it takes a second to really have to remind yourself what truly matters.”