Cardinals new hitting coach Brant Brown is a former big-league outfielder who began his professional playing career in the Chicago Cubs organization and also belted a career-high 16 home runs in a season with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Brown, 53, replaces former hitting coach Turner Ward after the Cardinals did not renew Ward鈥檚 contract at the end of this season.
The Cardinals offense averaged 4.15 runs per game (MLB average was 4.39 runs per game) and ranked 11th in batting average (.248), 14th in on-base percentage (.312) and 19th in slugging percentage (.392). Their 165 home runs were 22nd out of 30 MLB teams.
They struggled throughout the season in crucial situations as evidence by their .229 batting average with runners in scoring position, 27th of 30 teams in the majors.
The Cardinals were the only team in the majors with a negative run differential to post a winning record this season. They scored 47 fewer runs than they allowed. They were also the first Cardinals team since 1975 to post a winning record with a negative run differential.
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Brown will now lead the effort to improve the club鈥檚 offensive production in 2025.
Some background on the newest addition to the coaching staff:
A major-league pedigree
A third-round draft pick of the Cubs out of Fresno State in 1992, the left-handed hitting Brown played for the Cubs (1996-98 and 2000), Pirates (1999) and Florida Marlins (2000).
He logged a career batting average of .247 with a .301 on-base percentage and a .445 slugging percentage.
His best offensive seasons came in 1998 and 1999. With the Cubs in 1998, he slashed .291/.348/.501 with 14 home runs in 124 games.
He's most remembered by Cubs fans for that nearly cost the team a playoff berth in 1998.
As a member of the Pirates in 1999, he slashed .232/.283/.449 with 16 home runs.
The Marlins acquired him from the Pirates in exchange for outfielder Bruce Aven after the 1999 season. During the 2000 season, he got traded twice in one day by the Marlins to the Texas Rangers and by the Rangers to the Cubs. He was traded to the Cubs for current Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez.
Brown finished his career with 45 home runs, 146 RBIs and 15 stolen bases in 424 games in the majors.
Coaching career as a hitting guru
Brown served as a hitting coach in the Texas Rangers organization from 2007 through 2012. Then in 2013 he served as the Seattle Mariners minor league outfield coordinator. In 2016, he became the Mariners offensive coordinator.
Following the 2017 season with the Mariners, Brown joined the Los Angeles Dodgers as a hitting strategist. He held that position through 2019, and he served as the Dodgers hitting coach in 2020 and 2022.
His tenure as Dodgers hitting coach included their 2020 World Series championship club in the pandemic-shortened season.
In 2021, the Dodgers led the NL in runs and walk percentage, and they tied for second in OPS.
Following the 2022 season, Brown joined the Miami Marlins coaching staff as hitting coach. After the 2023 season, he became the bench coach and offensive coordinator for the Seattle Mariners.
Several Cardinals ties
While Brown鈥檚 most recent job came as the bench coach and offensive coordinator for the Seattle Mariners, he previously worked on former Cardinals player and coach Skip Schumaker鈥檚 staff with the Miami Marlins as hitting coach in 2023. Schumaker earned NL Manager of the Year honors in 2023.
Schumaker left the Cardinals coaching staff as bench coach to take the Marlins managerial job prior to the start of the 2023 season.
That Marlins coaching staff included former Cardinal Jon Jay as first base/outfield coach as well as former Cardinals player and coach John Mabry, who served as Brown鈥檚 assistant hitting coach.
Brown will again work on a coaching staff with Jay, who will return to St. 不良研究所导航网址 as a member of the Cardinals coaching staff in 2025.
Casualty of the Mariners' struggles
Brown鈥檚 stint with the Mariners concluded at the end of May. His role with the offense had been touted as separate from a hitting coach, focusing more on game planning, approach and adjustments.
However, the Mariners offense struggled early in the season and the Mariners fired Brown on May 31. The Mariners fired manager Scott Servais later in the summer.
Speaking on the podcast and , Brown discussed his departure from the Mariners.
鈥淚 tried multiple things, and I don鈥檛 want to say it wasn鈥檛 accepted,鈥 Brown said during that appearance. 鈥淚 tried to navigate it. I tried to make things different. I guess it just wasn鈥檛 different enough, and, ultimately, I got a paid vacation.鈥
Brown also touched upon general hitting philosophy when questioned by co-host and former MLB players A.J. Pierzynski and Erik Kratz.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really tough to hit,鈥 Brown said. 鈥淔or me, personally, it鈥檚聽鈥 one聽鈥 you have to be dedicated to what you want to do at the plate. Two, you need to have terms of your at-bat. Which means, we鈥檙e all going to evacuate the strike zone at some time. It鈥檚 just not logical to say that every swing that we take is going to be inside the box. But having terms of your at-bat basically means that if you do evacuate the strike zone, it鈥檚 going to be to your strength. And if you do swing and miss, it鈥檚 going to all be in as closely to one spot as you can. Rather than all the misses and swings coming all around the strike zone.
鈥淭hen, three, is you鈥檝e got to know where you鈥檙e at in the at-bat, you have to know where you鈥檙e at in the count, where you鈥檙e at in the game, and be able to use the whole field and down shift and take your singles. Because it鈥檚 just too hard to try to hit the ball as far as you can every at-bat and not have some collateral damage with swing and miss.鈥