photo: Daniel Descalso (Rick Scuteri/USA TODAY Sports)
St. Louis Cardinals release
The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they have named former Cardinals infielder and 2011 World Series Champion Daniel Descalso to the team’s Major League coaching staff where he will serve as Bench Coach in 2024. Joe McEwing, who was the team’s Bench Coach in 2023, has been named a 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 2024.
Descalso, 37, was a member of the Cardinals from 2010 to 2014, and enjoyed a 10-year playing career that also included stops with Colorado (2015-16), Arizona (2017-18) and the Chicago Cubs (2019). He played in World Series in both 2011 and 2103 with the Cardinals, and will long be remembered by Cardinals fans for his role in the team’s 2011 World Series Game 6 rally, and the decisive Game 5 comeback against Washington in the 2012 National League Division Series.
A Northern California native, who was drafted (3rd round) by the Cardinals in 2007, Descalso served as a Special Assistant to Baseball Operations for the National League Champion Arizona Diamondbacks in 2023.
Brian Walton’s take
This news was first shared on Monday morning by The Athletic’s Katie Woo, though she did not know Descalso’s role at that time. Perhaps the attention primed the team to make this announcement now, even though other changes to the staff for 2024 are not yet complete.
With just one year of front office experience following his playing career, Descalso becomes the Cardinals’ fourth bench coach in the last 13 months. He is 37 years old, the same age as manager Oliver Marmol.
After Skip Schumaker resigned following the 2022 season to become the manager of the Miami Marlins, another former Cardinal, Matt Holliday, agreed to take the job. Several weeks later, however, Holliday changed his mind.
Then deep into the off-season, the Cardinals moved to hire yet another ex-Redbird and then most recently Tony La Russa’s bench coach with the White Sox, Joe McEwing.
Clearly, if former catcher Yadier Molina rejoins the Cardinals organization in 2024, as has been discussed, it will not be as bench coach.
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