Marlins plan on tuning in tonight to watch Samson's debut on Survivor

JUPITER -- Marlins closer Steve Cishek has never been a fan of the show Survivor, but he'll be tuning in to watch the debut of the show's 28th season tonight.

Marlins team president David Samson, who turns 46 today, is one of 18 contestants on the long-time running hit reality TV show which pits contestants as castaways in in the Philippine province of Cagayan.

The debut show, which airs on CBS at 8 p.m. and is two hours long, was filmed last summer. Samson is one of six contestants who will be in the "Brains Tribe."

"He's obviously a bright person so I'm assuming he probably found a way to get to the top, some way or the other," Cishek said. "He's obviously in good shape too. He ran like a bazillion miles last year. The marathon thing he did was insane. I couldn't believe he did that. He got a lot of props for that for sure."

Manager Mike Redmond said he planned on tuning into the show, too, if he "could stay up that late."

"I've probably got to watch the first one, right?" Redmond said Wednesday. "It should be funny to watch."

Which current Marlins player would do best on Survivor?

Redmond believes catcher Jeff Mathis, an avid hunter in the off-season, and veteran pitcher Kevin Slowey, who climbed Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro two years ago with former Twins teammate and Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey, would be great contestants on Survivor.

Cishek called right-handed reliever and roommate Chris Hatcher the perfect "survivalist."

"He's like MacGyver," Cishek said. "He's fixed my bike so I can go pond to pond with my fishing pole attached to it. He's fixed the kitchen sink twice. He was going to fix the washer and dryer before we just decided to buy a new one. He knows how to rig things together MacGyver style."

 > Cishek, who missed a few days early in camp with neck discomfort, faced live hitters for the first time on Tuesday and did well.

He retired Marcell Ozuna on a fly out to left. Then he struckout Jarrod Saltalamacchia on a slider, walked Giancarlo Stanton and got Adeiny Hechavarria to ground out to third base.

"I was kind of disappointed I walked Stanton. I wanted to give him some pitches to see," Cishek said. "But I felt it went pretty well. It felt pretty good out there. It was nice to see somebody in the box. But I feel great today and I'm back to normal.

"I just slept funny. That's all it was. I had a crick in my neck and it just kind of blew up for some reason. It happens to everyone. We're good to go. It was early in the season and there was no sense to pitch through or anything. They just wanted me to relax. So I'm glad it happened this early instead of during the season."