photo: Brant Brown (USA TODAY Sports)
The St. Louis Cardinals have hired two coaches with ties to the Miami Marlins for their 2025 staff, hitting coach Brant Brown and outfield coach Jon Jay, with more moves coming.
St. Louis Cardinals release
The St. Louis Cardinals announced today (Tuesday, October 22) that they have named Brant Brown as Hitting Coach and former Cardinals World Series Champion outfielder Jon Jay to the team’s Major League coaching staff where he will serve as Coach in 2025. Cardinals Hall of Famer Willie McGee, who has served as a Coach since 2018, will transition to Special Assistant to President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak.
The team also announced that it still intends to make further additions to its Major League coaching staff for 2025.
Jay, 39, was a member of the Cardinals from 2010 to 2015, and enjoyed a 12-year playing career that also included stops with San Diego (2016), the Chicago Cubs (2017), Kansas City (2018), Arizona (2018, 2020), the Chicago White Sox (2019), and the Los Angeles Angels (2021). He played in World Series in both 2011 and 2013 with the Cardinals, and will long be remembered by Cardinals fans for his role in the team’s 2011 World Series Game 6 rally.
A Miami, Fla. native, who was drafted (2nd round) by the Cardinals in 2006, Jay served as a First Base/Outfield Coach with the Miami Marlins for the past two seasons (2023-24).
Brown, 53, recently served as Bench Coach and Offensive Coordinator with the Seattle Mariners for part of the 2024 season, following a stint as Hitting Coach for the Miami Marlins in 2023. Brown previously held the positions of Los Angeles Dodgers Assistant Hitting Coach (2020-22) and Minor League Hitting Strategist (2018-19), Mariners Minor League Offensive Coordinator (2017) and Outfield Coordinator (2013-16), and various coaching roles in the Texas Rangers minor leagues (2007-12).
The Porterville, Calif. native was drafted by the Cubs in the 3rd round of the 1992 MLB Draft and played parts of five seasons with the Cubs (1996-98, 2000), Pirates (1999), and Marlins (2000).
Brian Walton’s take
The Cardinals already announced an intent to get younger for 2025. Perhaps it applies to the coaches as well as the players.
McGee is a beloved Cardinal and team Hall of Famer, but the soon-to-be 66-year-old is being replaced by the 39-year-old Jay, another popular ex-player with St. Louis. Perhaps another set of eyes can help young Cardinals outfielders including Jordan Walker and Victor Scott further develop defensively.
McGee reportedly was already under contract for 2025. His advisory duties are to be announced.
There are several common threads between the new coaches. For example, the manager who employed both Jay (2023-2024) and Brown (2023) with the Miami Marlins is Skip Schumaker. The former Cardinal player and coach remains without a job for 2025.
As noted above, Brown was hitting coach with the 2023 Marlins before moving to Seattle for 2024. Despite the Marlins’ offense ranking 26th in MLB in runs scored, the 84-win Fish squeaked into the 2023 post-season as a Wild Card. Brown was reportedly liked by the team’s hitters.
With the Mariners offense struggling out of the gates in 2024, Brown was fired by Seattle at the end of May. By August, manager Scott Servais, Brown’s former MLB teammate, and the Mariners’ hitting coach also felt the ax.
In addition to his bench coach role, Brown’s offensive assignment with the Mariners was a new position for 2024. It specialized on the mental side, general approach and midgame adjustments, rather than on mechanics and swings. It all lasted barely two months into the regular season.
Brown’s role with the Cardinals may be more all-encompassing, but with other staffing announcements coming, that remains to be seen.
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