THE St. Louis Cardinals fired hitting coach Turner Ward after a season in which the team’s offense was one of the worst in the National League.
While the Cardinals ranked near the middle of the league in team batting average (.248) and OPS (.704), scoring runs was difficult.
Their 672 points represented the fourth-worst total in the league, resulting in a -74 point differential for the season. The Cardinals also hit the fourth fewest home runs in NL with 165. St. Louis finished with a .229 average and a .645 OPS with runners in scoring positionboth the worst in the Netherlands and the fourth worst in the MLB.
Previously reliable hitters like Paul Goldschmidt (0.245 average, 0.716 OPS) and Nolan Arenado (.719 OPS, 16 homers) displayed worst career numbers this season. The Cardinals would not bring back Goldschmidt after his contract expires this season, according to The Athletic.
Despite this and the negative point differential, St. Louis finished with an 83-79 record, tied for second place in the NL Central, 10 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers.
Ward has been the Cardinals’ hitting coach since 2023 after one season as the team’s assistant hitting coach. He was previously a hitting coach with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Dodgersand Cincinnati Reds for six seasons on the major league coaching staff before joining the Cardinals.
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol acknowledged that hitting with runners in scoring position is something that varies from year to year, but he thinks the team needs a new approach in these situations .
“First of all, it wasn’t good and it’s not something that can be predicted from year to year,” Marmol said. John Denton of MLB.com. “It’s something to address in terms of, ‘Why weren’t we good?’ And this is something that we have explored a lot. It has to be a point that we will emphasize (in 2025).
The Cardinals announced that Marmol would return as manager for the 2025 season. He is under contract through 2026. Marmol is expected to bring back assistant hitting coach Brandon Allen, game planning coach Packy Elkins and first base coach Stubby Clapp.
The St. Louis front office will undergo changes over the next year with John Mozeliak resigning as president of baseball operations after the 2025 season and former Boston Red Sox executive Chaim Bloom replaces him.
