6 people who are on the hot seat after Cardinals' lackluster start to 2024

4. Packy Elkins

If fans want someone fired based on their job title alone, Packy Elkins, the Cardinals' game plan coach, may take the prize.

Bill DeWitt, the Cardinals' chairman, and John Mozeliak, the president of baseball operations, believe in maintaining continuity within the organization. Elkins is an example of that continuity.

Elkins graduated from Belmont University in 2010 and was selected by the Cardinals in the 37th round of that season's first-year player draft. The infielder played for Shildt in Johnson City in 2010, 2011 in Quad Cities, and 2012 in Palm Beach with Jeff Albert as his hitting coach.

Even with Albert and Shildt no longer in the organization, Elkins serves as the continuity of their teachings. As the game plan coach, he must implement a lot of their teachings along the way.

Elkins's duties as game plan coach include splitting time coaching during pregame, working with hitters alongside hitting coach Turner Ward, and previously with Albert. He also assists in the development of advanced scouting.

When you take into consideration all of who Elkins as worked alongside in the Cardinals system, most notably Shildt and Albert, he would be a keeper of the modern Cardinal Way. He continues that just as DeWitt and Mozeliak want to see that legacy carry on.

Fans may see that job title and scoff, but Elkins is a member of the Cardinals staff as long as DeWitt and Mozeliak are still around.