Cardinals add Budaska and Greer as New Hitting Coaches

photo: George Greer, Oliver Marmol, Jose Oquendo (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)

Along with the dismissal of manager Mike Matheny, the St. Louis Cardinals relieved hitting coach John Mabry and assistant hitting coach Bill Mueller of their duties Saturday evening. On Sunday morning, their replacements were announced – long-time minor league hitting gurus Mark Budaska (Triple-A Memphis hitting coach) and George Greer (minor league hitting coordinator).

Budaska and Greer, who are expected to join St, Louis’ coaching staff after the All-Star break, will be put to the task of improving the performance of a Cardinals offense that ranks near the middle of the pack in a number of major offensive categories, including batting average (.244, 16th in MLB), on-base percentage (.314, 20th in MLB), slugging percentage (.319, 19th in MLB), and wRC+ (94, 16th in MLB).

Mark Budaska (Memphis Redbirds)

Budaska, 65, has spent 11 seasons as hitting coach for the Redbirds. Before that, he spent six years in the Boston Red Sox system, including a three-year stint with Triple-A Pawtucket. He is well-regarded for his background in biomechanics and has helped mold a number of current and former Cardinals hitters, including Matt Carpenter, Kolten Wong, Jon Jay, David Freese, Randal Grichuk, Daniel Descalso, Matt Adams, Stephen Piscotty, Jose Martinez and Tommy Pham.

The former switch-hitting outfielder played for 10 years in the Oakland Athletics organization, including stints with the big league club in 1978 and 1981. Budaska, who now resides in Hawaii, appeared in 13 games with the A’s, collecting six hits in 36 at-bats with three doubles and two RBI.

He began his professional playing career in 1973 with Lewiston in the Northwest League after signing as an amateur free agent, and made his major league debut on June 6, 1979.

This past season, Budaska was instrumental in helping Memphis to their first Pacific Coast League championship since 2009. That team was spearheaded by a high-powered offense which included Pham, Paul DeJong, Harrison Bader, and Luke Voit at various points. He also served as assistant hitting coach for the big league Cardinals for several weeks in the first half of 2017 while Mueller was on personal leave before returning to Memphis to finish the season.

Budaska, who studied kinesiology at a California college before baseball came calling, stresses the importance of “balance, “rhythm”, and “timing” to his hitters.

“I teach loads,” Budaska told the St. Louis Post Dispatch last summer. “It’s not swings. If you’re balanced, you have a good swing. If you’re not balanced, I don’t care how strong you are or what your bat speed is, you don’t have a swing. Let’s build a load and let the athleticism take them up from there.”

While Budaska has been credited for how the hitters perform in the minors and how major league hitters have done when they are sent to Memphis to reset in the past, Greer, 71, is the architect per se. He has been through it all inside the game of both collegiate and professional baseball over the last five decades.

George Greer (Johnson City Cardinals)

As a player, Greer topped out at the Cardinals Triple-A Tulsa Oilers, then managed by Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn. The outfielder and first baseman’s minor league playing career was highlighted by a 21-homer season in 1970 for the Modesto Reds (Cardinals High-A affiliate) and four years prior – Greer thrived in the Pan American Games to help the US National Team triumph over Cuban National Team for the first time in Games history.

After calling it a career in 1971, Greer began his first of over 30 years of coaching at the college level – beginning with the University of Connecticut-Avery Point in 1972. Greer then had stints with Davidson College from 1981 to 1987 and his final collegiate stop, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, a program he led to 608-382-4 cumulative record over 17 seasons.

Ever since, Greer has worked in professional baseball, most recently for the New York Mets in a nine-year stint as a minor league hitting coach. He joined the Cardinals as minor league offensive strategist and also served as Johnson City Cardinals hitting coach in 2015.

A year later, Greer took the reins of minor league hitting coordinator, his assignment for the last three years. In his role, he has received praise from Cardinals officials for his work with a number of Cardinals hitting prospects, particularly with the resurgence of Oscar Mercado last year.

In one of his most recent cases, Greer has worked with Carson Kelly on his hitting, since the catcher was optioned back to Triple-A on June 4. Over the last few weeks, Kelly has been one of the hottest hitters in the organization.

During Sunday morning’s press conference, interim manager Mike Shildt disclosed that the bench coach position will be “fluid” rather than name his specific replacement. Cardinals President of Baseball Ops John Mozeliak cited Greer and Jose Oquendo as two who will likely help fill that void, even without the title.

“I am a hitting coach, but I am also a baseball coach,” Greer said in an interview with Memphis broadcaster Steve Selby last summer. “I have coached every position throughout the years. This has been a wonderful experience because as an offensive strategist, you really don’t have a lane. You have dots rather than solid lines, so you can cross over and people respect that because of my age.”

Greer broke down his job further when asked to elaborate.

“Well, what I have done is given us a plan of looking fastball and looking away, adjusting to the off-speed pitch and then doing all the mental things you were taught playing baseball,” he said. “Move the runner along. Get a good pitch to hit and drive a ball to center field with the bases-loaded, so you don’t hit into a double-play. All those kinds of little things that makes runs and causes run creation throughout the season.”

As of now, it is unclear who will replace Budaska as Memphis’ hitting coach. Double-A Springfield hitting coach Jobel Jimenez is among those who could move up and fill the vacancy or the organization could use its fourth coach to help fill the gap.


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