Oliver Marmol, the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, is still in the dark despite his fourth season in charge.
Running the Cardinals for four years has been an emotional rollercoaster for the once-youngest manager in baseball. In Marmol’s debut year in 2022, he had the luxury of future Hall of Famers Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina leading the squad with future St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famer Adam Wainwright. The team fell in the playoffs’ Wild Card round, despite having a commanding lead in the National League Central.
Marmol’s and the Cardinals’ 2023 and 2024 were very different. The Cardinals had a sub-.500 record in 2023 and a mediocre 2024 season as a result of their incapacity to adapt to the times and their reliance on aging veterans. The collapses of Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, together with a front office and organizational pipeline that was running dry, made Marmol’s task extremely challenging, even though he could have made better choices at the time.
Oli Marmol has been praised by several outstanding baseball brains for his exceptional management of a youthful bunch of “youngry” Cardinals this season.
Former St. Louis Cardinals player and coach Skip Schumaker rains praise on Oliver Marmol for his managerial expertise
Skip Schumaker, who was sacked as manager of the Miami Marlins and is currently a special assistant with the Texas Rangers, is familiar with Marmol. In addition to playing with the Cardinals in the 2010s, the two collaborated as coaches in St. Louis in 2022.
Schumaker is well-versed in the qualities that constitute a good manager, having earned the 2023 National League Manager of the Year Award.
Schumaker praised his former colleague in an interview with Katie Woo of The Athletic on her podcast, Cardinal Territory. Schumaker remarked, “He’s developed into a manager who he truly wants to be now.” “(Oli’s) gotten to the playoffs. He’s leading young teams to areas that a lot of media members didn’t believe they would get to thus far, and it’s been very enjoyable to see him also acquire this staff that he feels is ready to take this group to the next level. He’s done a pretty fantastic job of getting the specialists in a lot of these areas in the game. They’ve been able to advance that organization thanks to it.
Having wonderful people around you is a big part of being a successful leader. Schumaker claims that Oli has accomplished this with his assistant coaches Brant Brown, Jon Jay, and Daniel Descalso. Since Brown was Schumaker’s hitting instructor in Miami, Skip is well acquainted with Brant and can attest to his knowledge.
Although Oliver Marmol continues to annoy fans, he has demonstrated this season that he is a real MLB manager. Ownership and the front office did not offer him any quarter, but he has performed well with the roster that has been provided to him. Marmol, who is frequently hailed as a player’s manager, is living up to that reputation this season by assisting in the development of a number of important young players, such as Matthew Liberatore, Kyle Leahy, Ivan Herrera, and Victor Scott II. Hearing someone with real baseball experience praise the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals is refreshing.
