Cardinals all-time great Willie McGee will move out of the dugout and into an organization role as the team continues to adjust and add to its major-league coaching staff.
Brant Brown, who was last with Seattle as a bench coach and offensive coordinator, will join the Cardinals as their new hitting coach, the team announced. The Cardinals also confirmed Jon Jay's addition to Oliver Marmol's staff. His title will be coach, but among the responsibilities he'll have is working with the team's outfielders.
McGee, a Cardinals Hall of Famer and former NL MVP who has been in the coach role and in the dugout for seven seasons, shifts to a special assistant role.
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The specifics of McGee's role will be detailed by the team later, though it's expected that he'll have a presence in spring training and working throughout the organization with young players. Toward the end of the season, McGee expressed interest in remaining with the team and said how much he enjoyed the teaching aspect of his role, especially with some of the younger outfielders.
For McGee, it's a return to the role that he first had when he rejoined the organization's leadership in 2013 before joining the day-to-day, big-league staff in 2018.
In the official announcement of staff moves, the Cardinals added the phrase that the club "still intends to make further additions to its Major League coaching staff for 2025."
The Cardinals have previously said Marmol will return as manager for his fourth season and that coaches聽Dusty Blake, Ron "Pop" Warner, Brandon Allen, and Stubby Clapp will all return as well.
Hitting coach Turner Ward had an expiring contract, and the team notified him that it would not be renewing it at the conclusion of the 2024 season.
Ward and McGee are the only coaches not returning from the '24 staff.
Brown, 53, spent part of the 2024 season with the Mariners as bench coach and a newly created position for the team: offensive coordinator. In that role, he was to assist with the hitting coaches as they prepared hitters and aided midgame adjustments. Brown had previously been hitting coach for the Marlins, where he worked with Jay on Skip Schumaker's first coaching staff in Miami.
Amid offensive struggles, the Mariners fired Brown in late May.
Before going to Miami, Brown had roles that fit where the Cardinals have been looking to go with their approach to hitting and their development of hitters. Brown was assistant hitting coach for the Dodgers when they won the 2020 World Series and he remained with LA through 2022. Before that, he worked in the Dodgers' player development as a hitting strategist, and he had a role within the Mariners' organization as a minor-league offense and outfield coordinator.
During his five seasons in the majors as a player, Brown appeared with the Cubs, Pirates, and Marlins.
Rob Cerfolio, who helped with Cleveland's farm system, will join the Cardinals as an assistant general manager overseeing player development.
Jay, a fixture in the Cardinals outfield for six seasons, will return to St. 不良研究所导航网址 and join close friend Daniel Descalso on Oliver Marmol's staff for the 2025 season.
Chatters had a lot of questions about the shift in spending toward player development while soaring over a leading reason for any shrink: TV uncertainty.