Cardinals: John Mozeliak once again defends hitting coach Jeff Albert

Cardinals hitting coach Jeff Albert has come under fire in recent weeks, but president of baseball operations John Mozeliak continues to defend him.

St. Louis Cardinals hitting coach Jeff Albert has come under fire this season, but none more so than when Tommy Edman made comments last week that felt pointed toward Albert, saying that the team has struggled to make mid-game adjustments, staying engaged and being aware of how each team is going to attack them on a daily basis.

Only days before, Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak made it clear that the team was happy with the coaching staff and had no plans to make any in-season changes. Mozeliak once again defended Albert, this time to local reporters (including Katie Woo of The Athletic) saying, “We’ve had offensive struggles. And for some reason, Jeff Albert has had a target on his back. We understand that things aren’t getting done. … We’re looking at that all the time in trying to internally address that.”

Internally addressing that does not mean that they would fire Albert, with the more likely approach giving him the rest of the season to tweak things. The Cardinals have shown a consistent patient approach at the plate and swinging at pitches they can do damage with, but there have been little results to show for it.

Albert, however, has already started to change things up. He has begun recently setting up a slow-motion video cam on a tripod in the batting cage with Nolan Arenado. He’s slightly tweaked how he is teaching things to hitters, translating it so that it is easier for the players to digest and implement in their game plans each night.

The Cardinals hope that his adjustments bring immediate results, considering their offense ranks in the bottom half of the league in most categories and that they are now 38-41 and eight games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central. Despite that, Albert’s job does not appear to be in jeopardy, though that could quickly change if the team continues it’s offensive struggles.