photo: Stubby Clapp (Memphis Redbirds)
St. Louis Cardinals press release
The St. Louis Cardinals announced today (Monday, October 29) they have hired Jeff Albert as hitting coach and Richard “Stubby” Clapp as first base coach.
The 2019 St. Louis Cardinals coaching staff under manager Mike Shildt is now complete joining Oliver Marmol (bench coach), Mike Maddux (pitching coach), Ron “Pop” Warner (third base coach), Mark Budaska (assistant hitting coach), Willie McGee (assistant coach) and Bryan Eversgerd (bullpen coach).
“We are excited to have our coaching staff in place for the upcoming season,” said John Mozeliak, St. Louis Cardinals President of Baseball Operations. “The off-season focus moving forward is to improve our roster.”
Albert, who will turn 38-years old on Wednesday, has been with the Astros organization for the last six years after coming over from the Cardinals organization following the 2012 season. The Rochester, N.Y., native held three coaching roles in the Astros organization, most recently as the second hitting coach for the Major League club in 2018. In 2013, Albert served as the roving hitting instructor, and from 2014-17 the Astros minor league hitting coordinator.
The Astros had the second fewest amount of strikeouts in Major League Baseball (1,197) during the 2018 season and have posted four of the top six season home run totals in the organization’s history over the past four years, three times hitting 200 or more round-trippers.
As a member of the Cardinals organization, Albert served as the hitting coach in short-season Batavia (2008) helping the club to a New York-Penn League Championship and had the same role at High-A Palm Beach (2009-12). Albert played college baseball at Butler University and two seasons in Independent Leagues before starting his coaching career.
Clapp, 45, has been the manager of the Memphis Redbirds for the past two seasons, leading the club to back-to-back Pacific Coast League Championships and the Triple-A Championship in 2018. His 2017 club set the franchise record with a 91-50 regular season mark and he was named Baseball America’s Minor League Manager of the Year.
The former 36th round draft pick of the Cardinals in 1996, played one season in St. Louis in 2001, batting .200 with an RBI in 23 Major League games.
Clapp held previous coaching roles with the Canadian National Team in the Olympics, World Baseball Classic and Pan-American Games and professionally in the Blue Jays (2013-16) and Astros (2007-12) organizations.
Brian Walton’s take
Albert is a strong hire, known as an intelligent, knowledgeable and well-respected hitting teacher. He left the Cardinals organization as part of the crew that followed Jeff Luhnow to Houston. His return, via this promotion, is a coup for the Cardinals.
Clapp had received interest from Toronto for the Jays’ since-filled managerial position and reportedly interviewed with Texas for its open spot as well, but the Cardinals had signaled from the start that he would be joining their staff if he did not get an MLB top job. The very deserving choice for this promotion was TCN’s Manager of the Year and the Pacific Coast League Manager of the Year in both 2017 and 2018.
After former hitting coaches John Mabry and Bill Mueller were fired along with manager Mike Matheny in July, minor league hitting coordinator George Greer and Memphis hitting coach Mark Budaska were brought in to fill the gap. For 2019, Greer will return to his prior job while Budaska will remain as Albert’s assistant.
The Cardinals will need to hire both a new manager and hitting coach for the Triple-A Redbirds for next season.
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Brian Walton can be reached via email at brian@thecardinalnation.com. Follow Brian on Twitter.
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