The St. Louis Cardinals have found Mike Shildt’s successor in-house, hiring bench coach Oliver Marmol to be the team’s new manager. Marmol immediately becomes the youngest manager in MLB and youngest in franchise history since 1951 and Marty Marion.
The Cardinals made the announcement during a press conference before confirming the news on social media.
Speaking with reporters, the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said that the team hired Marmol because they believe he is the best man to continue their project.
“Ultimately, our comfort level of keeping that continuity and really building on what we have going … we felt like we’re in a really good place directionally with where we were headed. We felt Oli could really be that seamless transition to where we’re trying to get,” Mozeliak added.
Oliver Marmol was drafted by the Cardinals back in the 2007 MLB Draft and had a brief playing career in the minors before turning to coaching. He served at several positions in the minors, including managing the Cardinals’ Low-A affiliate Palm Beach Cardinals, before being promoted to first base coach in 2017. Marmol became the bench coach for the MLB side ahead of the 2019 season.
The Cardinals moved on from Shildt shortly after they ended their 2021 playoff run with an NL wild-card loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Mozeliak said at the time that the two sides parted ways due to “philosophical differences.”
