Cardinals new hitting coach led one of worst offenses in baseball last season

The St. Louis Cardinals fanbase was calling for heads after another disappointing season. But instead, they found out that president of baseball operations John Mozeliak and manager Oli Marmol would return for another year. However, Mozeliak is handing things over to Chaim Bloom after the 2025 season.

Even though things will mostly be the same, the Cardinals are making changes to their coaching staff. However, their new hitting coach won't exactly inspire confidence in the fanbase.

On Tuesday, the Cardinals announced that they were hiring Brant Brown as their new hitting coach. Brown notably served as the hitting coach for the Seattle Mariners for about half of the season before getting fired for the team's offensive struggles.

Cardinals hire Brant Brown, who was fired as Mariners hitting coach this past season

Brown does have quite the resume as an assistant coach. From 2018 until 2022, Brown was an assistant hitting coach and hitting strategist for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and has a World Series title to his credit.

In 2023, Brown was the hitting coach for the Miami Marlins, who made it to the postseason. That year, the Marlins had the fourth-highest batting average (.259), but ranked 19th in OPS (.721).

Last winter, the Mariners hired Brown as their bench coach and offensive coordinator. However, the Mariners, who had postseason aspirations, faltered in the batter's box. The team led all of baseball in strikeouts (576), while ranking 28th in batting average (.211) and 28th in OPS (.656). As a result, the Mariners fired Brown on May 31. That's right, Brown was let go after just two months into the season.

Yes, there is hope that Brown can put his run with the Mariners behind him with the Cardinals. After all, he did get a lot out of the Marlins in 2023. But lasting just two months into this season for being responsible for one of the worst offenses in baseball will stick with Cardinals fans.