*Photo from Yahoo! Sports*
After firing manager Mike Shildt at the end of their season, the St.Louis Cardinals didn't have to look very far to find his replacement. The Cardinals have named bench coach Oliver Marmol as their next manager, according to Katie Woo of The Athletic. The Cardinals have confirmed the hiring.
Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said of hiring Marmol that "The entire organization felt that it was important to try and maintain the success, progress and momentum that was built over the course of 2021 season. We are excited to have Oli helping us to further grow that effort as we move forward. Oli has always been someone that I knew would one day become a manager, and today, I am pleased to join in introducing him as the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals."
Marmol has been the bench coach of the Cardinals, alongside Shildt, since the 2019 season. He has been a coach in the Cardinals organization since the beginning of the 2011 season. Since then, he has managerial experience in the minors, being the manager of the Low A Palm Beach Cardinals, and the Johnson City Cardinals, who used to be the rookie league affiliate of the Cardinals.
As a player, Marmol has been in the organization since the summer of 2007. He was selected by the Cardinals in the 6th round of the 2007 draft, and spent his playing career in the minors, never making it above High A. After the 2010 season, he hung up his cleats and became a coach in the organization instead.
In hiring Marmol, the Cardinals not only passed on some notable names outside of the organization, but some names inside the organization as well. First base coach Stubby Clapp has previously been interviewed by other teams for managerial openings, and former Cardinal player and current Padres associate manager Skip Schumaker was said to have been another choice.
By being hired as manager, Marmol will break a major milestone. He now becomes the first full time manager of color in Cardinals history. Marmol is also younger than current Cardinals Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright. At 35 years old, he's now the youngest manager in baseball history as well.
Marmol talked about his next steps as manager in his press conference, saying that "It's not so much different, as much as, how do we build upon the success of this organization has had, because we've won here. It's more so building upon that, and for me, that comes with a heavy emphasis on integrating departments."
Marmol is now the 65th manager in the history of the Cardinals, and in his first season in 2022, he'll experience the Molina farewell tour, as 2022 will be the legendary catcher's final season. He'll also look to build off the late season surge in 2021 that saw the Cardinals make it to the Wild Card game.
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