Former Cardinals hitting coach continues to rise while Cardinals' offense falls

When a team struggles, the coaches of an organization, be it the manager or specific group coaches like the hitting coach or pitching coach, are the first ones to be blamed and subsequently punished. The players, especially those who struggle, will receive flak, but the brunt of the vitriol is aimed at the coaches whose squads didn't perform well.

Following the 2022 season, St. Louis Cardinals hitting coach Jeff Albert left the team and opted to not extend his contract with the club. While he never spoke on the reason why he decided to leave, former president of baseball operations John Mozeliak stated that Albert began to grow weary of fan criticism that he saw online.

This caused Albert to leave for different pastures and make his way to the northeast to be the Director of hitting for the New York Mets. He held that position from November 2022 until very recently. As Director of Hitting, Albert oversaw the club's minor league hitting program.

Former St. Louis Cardinals hitting coach Jeff Albert rises to lead the New York Mets hitting program.

A person familiar with the Mets' minor-league hitting infrastructure spoke highly of Albert's aptitude for coaching, saying “They have a really good hitting program in the minor leagues. “[The major league staff] was very aligned with those guys. [Albert] is an incredibly smart, talented guy. Jeff has the capability and he’s done it before.”

Albert has indeed found success as a hitting coach before. He was the Cardinals' hitting coach from 2019-2022, and the club saw plenty of growth in its hitters.

From 2019-2022, the St. Louis Cardinals ranked first in all of baseball in pulled fly-ball rate. Why are pulled fly balls so important? They happen to have the highest wOBA (.937) among all batted balls. That's an insane wOBA, and the Cardinals were taking full advantage of this analytical benefit while Albert was the club's hitting coach.

While the club's propensity to pull fly balls was a net positive, they weren't able to convert those opportunities into runs. The club finished in the top half of the league in runs per game only once during Albert's time as hitting coach in 2022. That also happened to be the year that both Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado were favorites for the National League Most Valuable Player award.

Since 2022, the Cardinals' offense has plummeted. The Cardinals rank 18th in wRC+ (99) since 2023. They rank 25th in ISO, 19th in wOBA, and 22nd in total home runs. The club's ability to slug has fallen dramatically, and Jeff Albert's departure could be partially responsible for this decline.

The players on a team matter far more than the coaches when it comes to team success, but the Cardinals certainly weren't lacking in talent in 2023. They had both Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado on the roster who were coming off career years. The club had also just signed one of the best offensive free agents that winter in Willson Contreras along with promising youngsters like Tyler O'Neill, Jordan Walker, and Nolan Gorman looking to contribute.

However, with Albert's departure, the Cardinals weren't able to find success offensively and they fell to a 71-91 record.

Since joining the Mets in 2023, Albert has worked hard to revamp the club's minor-league hitting program. He oversaw growth from Carson Benge, the club's second-ranked prospect. 21-year-old prospect Jett Williams, corner infielder Jacob Reimer, and outfielder A.J. Ewing, all top-10 prospects in the Mets' system, all showed tremendous growth in 2025 under Albert's tutelage.

New York has also seen several former top prospects find success in the majors including Mark Vientos, Brett Baty, and Francisco Alvarez.

Jeff Albert will now get the chance to turn the high-profile New York Mets into an offensive juggernaut, something the St. Louis Cardinals can only dream of being next year barring dramatic changes and adjustments from 2025.