Cardinals News: New hires, World Series history, and Arizona Fall League

The St. Louis Cardinals, despite being out of the postseason, have had quite an active week. Here's a round-up of the biggest headlines from the past few days.

The Cardinals hire Brant Brown as hitting coach, Jon Jay as a coach, and Rob Cerfolio joins the front office.

The Cardinals announced Brant Brown as their hitting coach. He will follow Turner Ward. Brown, 53, was fired as the Seattle Mariners' offensive coordinator and bench coach following a poor output by the team's offense in 2024. Before coaching in Seattle, Brown was responsible for overseeing the Miami Marlins and their surprisingly successful 2023 season.

In order to fill out their coaching staff and re-make the front office, the Cardinals made two major hires within 24 hours of each other. Jon Jay was added to Oliver Marmol's coaching staff on Monday, and Willie McGee transitioned to a special advisor role. While it isn't fully clear what Jay's role will be on the team, he will more than likely help with the outfielders and defense.

On Tuesday morning, it was announced that Chaim Bloom made his first hire in the front office. Katie Woo of The Athletic reported that Rob Cerfolio, the Cleveland Guardians' director of player development, would be the Cardinals Assistant General Manager, Player Development and Performance. Cerfolio was able to produce multiple homegrown players such as Steven Kwan, Bo Naylor, Hunter Gaddis, Tanner Bibee, and Brayan Rocchio.

The 2024 World Series has a couple of Cardinals' connections.

While the Cardinals aren't in the 2024 World Series, there are still some loose threads that connect them to the event. This is the 20th anniversary of the Cardinals' appearance in the 2004 World Series. Despite losing this series to the Boston Red Sox, it was a launching party of sorts for Albert Pujols and the Big Three of Pujols, Jim Edmonds, and Scott Rolen.

Also, the 2024 World Series represents the first time since 2013 that both #1 seeds in their respective leagues made the final series. In 2013, the Cardinals lost (once again) to the Boston Red Sox. Those stinky Sox and their winning.

AFL Update

The Cardinals sent eight total players to the Arizona Fall League. Outfielder Nathan Church, infielder Thomas Saggese, catcher Leonardo Bernal, and pitchers Matt Svanson, Brycen Mautz, Ixan Henderson, Alex Cornwell, and Trent Baker are all playing for the Glendale Desert Dogs in the AFL this year.

Saggese is the club's best performer so far with a .400/.545/.720 slash line and four extra-base hits to his name. He's walked two more times than he has struck out. Nathan Church has a .400/.424/.480 slash line in 25 at-bats as well, though nine of his 10 hits have been singles. Leonardo Bernal is slashing .200/.200/.200 in only 15 at-bats so far.

Ixan Henderson has thrown 5.1 innings, and he has a 1.69 ERA to go along with seven strikeouts. Matt Svanson has not allowed an earned run in three innings, and he's struck out five batters. Brycen Mautz has a 2.25 ERA with six strikeouts in four innings. Trent Baker has a 3.60 ERA in five innings, but he's struck out zero batters. Alex Cornwell has allowed two runs in only three innings, but he has four strikeouts.