Cardinals' new hitting coach brings a Driveline background to a lineup full of upside

The St. Louis Cardinals have a new hitting coach. FanSided's own Robert Murray reported this morning that the club is hiring Joel McKeithan, who most recently was an assistant hitting coach with the Chicago White Sox. Prior to that, McKeithan spent time with the Cincinnati Reds and Driveline, an external baseball player development group that has gained a lot of fanfare over the years.

The hiring of McKeithan comes after almost two weeks of speculation following the surprise news of Brant Brown's dismissal by the club. Sources told me that Brown was let go the day after the Cardinals' season ended, but news did not break about the change until October 23rd. Brown was hired by the Cardinals prior to the 2025 season.

Initial reports indicated that the Cardinals were strongly considering an internal promotion, with assistant hitting coach Casey Chenoweth being the leading candidate. While the Cardinals did consider their internal options, a report surfaced last week that former Boston Red Sox hitting coach Peter Fatse was offered the Cardinals' gig before taking the Philadelphia Phillies' hitting coach job.

Fatse was Chaim Bloom's hitting coach hire in Boston, promoting him from assistant hitting coach back in 2019.

The Cardinals explored other external candidates as well, but eventually landed on McKeithan as their new hire.

Joel McKeithan brings a new voice to the Cardinals MLB hitting staff

When Bloom confirmed the change at the hitting coach position recently, he indicated that the club was looking for a fresh voice to lead the hitting group in St. Louis. McKeithan certainly qualifies as that.

The White Sox made a surprise run to the playoffs this year, seeing growth amongst their young hitters as McKeithan worked closely with that group. Now he will be tasked with seeing the young Cardinals offense grow under his watch.

The Cardinals did see remarkable growth from Jordan Walker in 2026, and while Alec Burleson continued his steady progress at the plate as well, names like Ivan Herrera, Masyn Winn, Victor Scott II, Nolan Gorman, and Pedro Pages all saw dips in their production. That, coupled with finishing near the bottom of baseball in most offensive categories in both seasons under Brown, helped prompt the change.

Chenoweth is largely credited with Walker's progression at the plate, which is why many believed he would be the "next man up," given how highly the Cardinals seem to think of him. The hope is that Chenoweth will remain with the staff in his role moving forward.

Hiring an external candidate like McKeithan should tell you how much the Cardinals value him and another outside perspective, because between Chenoweth, Dalton Hurd, and Brock Hammitt, the Cardinals have a lot of internal voices who are respected throughout the game.

Bloom has stated a few times that he expected "more continuity than not" on the Cardinals' Major League staff entering 2027, so we'll see if they are able to hold onto the rest of their group as they move through the offseason. Outside of that hitting group that teams may want to poach from, both Daniel Descalso and Jon Jay are widely viewed as candidates for the Houston Astros' open managerial role under their new general manager, Randy Flores, who just came over from the Cardinals.

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