Cardinals: Who is Oliver Marmol, and is he the right hire as St. Louis manager?

The St. Louis Cardinals are reportedly hiring Oliver Marmol as their new manager.

The St. Louis Cardinals went on a historic 17-game winning streak to clinch the final Wild Card spot in the National League. Yes, they did lose to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the single-elimination postseason game, but it was certainly shocking to read that manager Mike Shildt was let go by the organization over “philosophical differences.” But there could be something looming with the Cardinals?

According to Derrick S. Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Sunday, the Cardinals had identified internal candidates to replace Shildt as manager, with the leader in those discussions being bench coach Oliver Marmol.

Sure enough, The Athletic’s Katie Woo reported shortly afterwards that the Cardinals will announce Marmol as their next manager in a press conference on Monday morning.

Cardinals: Who is Oliver Marmol?

Marmol has been with the Cardinals organization dating back to when he was a sixth-round pick by the organization in the 2007 MLB Draft. He played shortstop in the minor league system up until 2010. Through his four seasons in the Cardinals farm system, Marmol slashed .203/.301/.582 while recording five home runs, 68 RBI, 108 runs and 157 hits.

In 2017, Marmol joined the team’s major league coaching staff when Mike Matheny was still the manager, and he has retained a spot on the staff ever since. Reports have indicated not just from Goold, but also MLB Network insider Jon Heyman that Marmol could be the next Cardinals manager.

The Cardinals are no strangers for keeping things in house when it comes to making a change at manager. Let’s not forget that after Matheny was let go midway through the 2018 season, they promoted Shildt from bench coach to interim manager. Then, they signed him to a contract extension to become their permanent manager.

Promoting Marmol to manager would make sense, because president John Mozeliak has stated that he wants the coaching staff to remain intact. Hiring Marmol as manager would help turn that into a reality. It does make sense, considering the success the team had in the second half of the season.

Cardinals fans, you have your new manager, and his name is Oliver Marmol.