St. Louis Cardinals name Oliver Marmol new manager

The St. Louis Cardinals managerial search has come to a swift conclusion, with bench coach Oliver Marmol earning the gig. 

For the 65th time in franchise history, the St. Louis Cardinals have named a new manager.

Following the shocking dismissal of Mike Shildt, the Cardinals are planning to promote bench coach Oliver Marmol. According to The Athletic, the Cardinals decision has been made and Marmol will be officially introduced on Monday morning.

Marmol’s ascension to manager is just one of the many plot twists this season took for the Cardinals. After starting the month of September out of the playoff chase, St. Louis stormed back into the picture by winning 17-straight games — a franchise record — and earning a Wild Card berth. The Cardinals lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers, but needed to be victims of ninth inning heroics to have their season end.

Despite all of the 11th hour success, the Cardinals decided to move on from Shildt due to philosophical differences. Rather than wait out a lame duck season knowing they weren’t bringing Shildt back in 2023, the Cardinals cut bait now and have simply promoted from with their system to find his replacement.

Who is Oliver Marmol, the Cardinals new manager?

Marmol’s name might be a bit of a head scratcher for the casual baseball fan, but he’s a name that Cardinals fans know well. He’s a St. Louis Lifer, having been drafted by the Cardinals in 2007 and playing in their minor league system for a few years before transitioning into a coaching role.

After acting as the hitting coach for the Gulf Coast Cardinals, and then the manager of the Johnson City Cardinals and the Palm Beach Cardinals, Marmol was finally called up to the Bigs in 2017 when he joined the Cardinals as the team’s first base coach. He’s served as the Cardinals bench coach since 2019, having worked closely with Mike Shildt.