3 candidates to become St. Louis Cardinals bench coach

With the naming of Oli Marmol as the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, the club is now on the search for a new bench coach.

The St. Louis Cardinals will look to name a new bench coach now that former bench coach Oli Marmol was named the club’s manager.

Marmol was named the 51st manager in club history and the first person of color to be full-time manager of the team in its history. At 35, he is the youngest manager in Major League Baseball.

Scouted by his mentor and the team’s former manager, Mike Shildt, he was drafted as a player by the Cardinals in 2007. He wasn’t entirely successful as a player but did have a desire to lead and coach. As his path changed, Marmol was tapped to manage teams in the Cardinals minor league system at Palm Beach and Johnson City.

Marmol was a first base coach with the Cardinals prior to holding the position of bench coach the past three seasons.

During his press conference, Marmol said he wanted there to be an integration of departments which would lead to an improvement in communication between the front office and analytics department with the coaches, and therefore players. There had been a reluctance by previous managers to integrate the findings from the analytics department. Marmol, however, is very open to it and will work with coaches and players.

President of baseball operations John Mozeliak said Marmol will provide a seamless transition to the new role but it is believed they will seek out someone older to assist him as they seek a replacement for Marmol in the bench coach role.

The Cardinals look to name their coaching staff before the World Series ends. Jeff Albert and Mike Maddux are under contract through 2022. Mozeliak does hope to retain much of the current staff.

Let’s take a look at some of the possible bench coach options for the Cardinals