The Memphis Mafia is now tasked with leading the next generation of Cardinals

A little over a decade ago, the St. Louis Cardinals were in the midst of their most recent glory days, where player development was humming and the organization was the class of baseball. Having just won the World Series in 2011, the Cardinals were able to weather the loss of future Hall of Famers Albert Pujols and Tony La Russa leaving the team, appearing in the NLCS three straight years following that World Series win and returning to the October Classic in 2013.

If you remember those iconic years, you'll probably remember the young bucks who were making an impact on the Cardinals' winning ways early in their careers, and were affectionally named the "Memphis Mafia". That group was led by names like Allen Craig, Jon Jay, and Daniel Descalso, scrapping players who "knew how to win" and were key reasons why the Cardinals were so successful during those years.

Flash forward to 2025 and now sit both Descalso and Jay on the Cardinals' coaching staff, tasked with helping the next wave of young Cardinals turn this Major League team into a winner once again.

Daniel Descalso and Jon Jay are the right kind of leaders to help develop the Cardinals' young talent

In so many ways, it's poetic to see the duo reunite as coaches for a young Cardinals team. Jay and Descalso were not "top prospects", with Descalso ranking ninth among the Cardinals' top prospects and Jay 13th by Baseball America in 2010. And yet, both men carved out long careers in the big leagues, each of them collecting a World Series ring and combining to play in 115 postseason games.

Becoming a great coach is not just about your experience as a player though, it is about having the drive and the desire to help players grow, learn the game, and forge comradery that leads to winning. Both Descalso and Jay have shown that in their careers as players and as coaches.

Trevor Rosenthal told an incredible story about Descaslo on a recent episode of Cardinals Territory with Katie Woo. Rosenthal recalled the Spring Training in 2013 where Matt Carpenter transitioned to play second base for the Cardinals, and Daniel Descalso worked tirelessly during that camp to help Carpenter acclimate to the position that he had not played at the Major League level. Here's the catch though - that would mean Descalso would lose his second base job and playing time

The kind of humility and leadership it would take for someone in the prime of his career (Descalso was just 26 at the time) to help someone take his starting job because it was in the team's best interest is the kind of player who should now garner high levels of respect as a coach. When Descalso walks into a room and calls his players to a higher standard and to sacrifice for those around him, he's proven that he is the kind of guy who will do the same thing.

Jay is cut from the same cloth. When Skip Schumaker went down to manage the Miami Marlins, he brought in Jay as one of his coaches, and the pair helped lead a young, scrappy Marlins team to the postseason, massively overachieving based on the expectations others had for them. Jay was able to connect with his players, and Victor Scott II, for example, has already raved about Jay's work with him thus far.

Jay and Descalso were in the Cardinals' farm system at the same time as manager Oliver Marmol, with Descalso and Marmol playing as teammates in 2007 and 2008 at Batavia and Palm Beach. While Marmol never made it to the big leagues, he cut his teeth for years coaching in the Cardinals' minor leagues and has always been someone viewed with an eye for player development.