Oli Marmol shares how former Cardinal Paul Goldschmidt shaped his coaching methods

St. Louis Cardinals' manager Oliver Marmol has learned a lot in his five years at the helm. He still remembers one lesson in particular that he learned from Paul Goldschmidt early in the manager's tenure in St. Louis.

Oli Marmol has a career 402-406 record as a manager. All 808 games have come with the Cardinals. While a non-negligible portion of the fanbase has been unhappy with the Marmol era in St. Louis, a larger portion of fans have seen past the surface. Marmol, once the youngest manager in the majors, has had an ideal lineup in maybe two of his five years in St. Louis. Several rosters that he's managed have had insurmountable holes.

However, Marmol has had some growing pains as a manager. Be it his scuffles with umpires or his disagreement with Tyler O'Neill in 2023, Oli learned quite a bit early in his career as a manager.

Paul Goldschmidt was blunt with Oli Marmol about his expectations for young Cardinals

When speaking with Chris Rongey, Tom Ackerman, and Bernie Miklasz on an episode of The Gashouse Gang, Marmol shared a poignant story from early in his career as a manager. Former Cardinal Paul Goldschmidt spoke to Oli in private, and Oli shared that story on the episode.

"We were sitting in Chicago. We were playing the White Sox, and Goldy asked for a minute of my time at some point during that road trip," said Marmol. "(Goldy) walks into the office. He closes the door, and I had no idea what was going to come out of his mouth.

"He sits down and he says, 'Hey, man, I gotta be honest with you. The young guys are scared to death to play for you.' I was kind of taken back," recalled Marmol.

Marmol continued with Goldy's words, "'They are. You're very demanding in what you expect, but in a way where I don't think it's allowing us to get the most out of them. I can take it. Yadi can take it. We've been around for a while, but maybe you need to look in the mirror a little bit and see if there's anything that you can do in order to get more out of these guys from a relationship standpoint.' And that's where it hit me," said Oli candidly.

This conversation likely took place in 2023 when the Cardinals visited the White Sox from July 7th through July 9th. Marmol was likely feeling pressure that year after a division championship in his first year as manager. The Cardinals were 14 games under .500 following the White Sox series, and he was in the middle of a rough sophomore season as skipper of the Cardinals

There are but two holes in Oli's story: Yadier Molina retired in 2022, and the Cardinals didn't play the White Sox that year. There's a chance he misremembered the story, and Goldschmidt used a different player's name, though. Oli could have also used Yadi's name as a jerk reaction considering how prominent Molina was within the organization both as a player and a special assistant.

Marmol has grown quite a bit as a manager, and he's become vocal when it comes to building relationships with players. He's appreciated amongst his peers in baseball, and his contract extension that he received before the start of the 2026 season proves that management has his back as the rebuild kicks off.

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