Former Cardinals join Team USA's star-studded staff for 2026 World Baseball Classic

While St. Louis Cardinals fans likely still have nightmares of how the 2023 World Baseball Classic preceded chaos for the club during the regular season, the event itself is still one of the most impactful things baseball does to grow the sport globally. The Cardinals will once again be represented on Team USA in the event during its next iteration, at least on the coaching side of things.

Former Cardinal and MLB Network analyst Mark DeRosa is back again to lead Team USA in 2026, and this time, he's bringing along a few other Cardinals alumni to fill important roles on his squad.

Skip Schumaker and Matt Holliday will be Team USA's bench coach and hitting coach in 2026

Team USA announced their coaching staff for next year's World Baseball Classic today, and former Cardinals Skip Schumaker and Matt Holliday join DeRosa as Cardinals alumni who will be coaching for USA during the event.

Schumaker played second base and outfield for the Cardinals from 2005-2012 and enjoyed an 11-year career playing at the Major League level. Schumaker joined the San Diego Padres coaching staff in 2018 before becoming Oliver Marmol's bench coach for the 2022 season. Following that incredible year, Schumaker became the Miami Marlins' manager, leading them to the playoffs in 2023, but he parted ways with the Marlins after the 2024 season. He is currently serving as a special advisor for baseball operations with the Texas Rangers.

After Schumaker took the Marlins' manager gig, Marmol actually hired his good friend, Matt Holliday, to replace Schumaker as the Cardinals' bench coach for 2023, but as spring training approached that year, Holliday opted to resign from the gig in order to spend more time with family. Holliday is a Cardinals Hall of Famer, serving as a key member of their World Series championship team in 2011 and playing for the club from 2009-2016.

Joining DeRosa, Schumaker, and Holliday on Team USA's coaching staff are Yankees legend Andy Pettitte (pitching coach), former Cubs manager and World Series hero David Ross (bullpen coach), former Braves and Rangers stars Brian McCann and Michael Young (assistant coaches), former Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez (assistant manager) and long-time coaches George Lombard and Dino Ebel (first base coach and third base coach).

Schumaker is likely to return to a Major League dugout as a manager in the near future, and Holliday has expressed his own interest in becoming a manager someday as well. Albert Pujols was named the manager of Team Dominican Republic earlier this spring, and Yadier Molina is set to manage Team Puerto Rico in 2026 as well. Adam Wainwright recently shared that Molina has received multiple managerial offers already, and Pujols has stated publicly that he would like to be a manager soon.

So many former Cardinals are getting into the international scene from a coaching and managing perspective, and many of those men, if not all, will be managing Major League clubs over the coming years.