Cardinals: The early returns on Oli Marmol are very promising

The early returns for Oli Marmol are very promising, and the St. Louis Cardinals have to be feeling very good about their first-year manager.

Entering the regular season, the most pressing question surrounding the St. Louis Cardinals was how Oli Marmol would fare replacing Mike Shildt as manager. Shildt, of course, had consistently led them to the postseason while Marmol, at age 35, is the youngest manager in baseball.

It’s early. After all, the Cardinals have not even played nine games yet this season. But the early returns on Marmol are about as promising as the team could have hoped. Just take this quote from Marmol discussing matchup numbers for example, via Katie Woo of The Athletic:

It appears that the Cardinals players have already bought into his philosophy. After all, the team’s familiarity with Marmol – he was Mike Shildt’s bench coach – and his relationships with Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright and the other leaders on the team made him the clear cut candidate to replace Shildt.

But the Cardinals’ belief in Marmol was another contributing factor in their decision to part with Shildt. It was a huge risk parting with a manager with the pedigree of Shildt, and the Cardinals knew it, but they wanted a more analytical approach, someone who tried to maximize each matchup, and they felt that Marmol provided that more than Shildt.

So far, the Cardinals look correct in that calculation. It also provided a glimpse into what the Cardinals can expect from the first-year manager this season and going forward: being prepared. Perhaps being overprepared, and that’s never a bad thing. He was locked-in on a matchup between Nick Wittgren and Whit Merrifield in the first week of the regular season, trying to find any edge he can to set his team up for success.

If he’s doing that now, just imagine what he’ll do for the postseason. Sure, there are going to be ups and downs. It happens every year, especially with a first-year manager. But the early signs could not be more promising for Marmol.