Scruggs transitions from the diamond to St. Louis Cardinals point person on diversity

When Xavier Scruggs felt his Achilles tendon rupture, he realized it might be time to try something else.

That’s the way baseball goes for most of the people who attempt to ascend to its highest levels. The grind takes its toll and some part of the body gives out, and the decision to step away is made for a player, often without taking his wishes into account.

Xavier Scruggs, however, decided he wasn’t done with baseball. He was done with baseball the way it had been.

“I start seeing everything going on with the politics stuff and, and the COVID issues, and then social injustice issues,” Scruggs said of his time on the mend. “So our nation and society is having these discussions and opinions, and I’m like, man, when I was in the organization, I wish that there would be somebody that could talk to us about current events and educate us on issues such as this going on.”

And so Scruggs, 33, forged a path that ended in a position in the St. Louis Cardinals baseball operations department as the team’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Consultant. It’s the next step after a playing career that saw Scruggs achieve success both domestically and internationally, reaching the majors with the Cardinals and Marlins and starring in both Korea and Mexico.

That recent, relevant playing experience makes him an ideal carrier of a message that can often seem all but impossible to transmit to players already inundated with data and feeling out ways in which their own beliefs and politics may build barriers rather than breaking them down.

“I think it’s going really good just having him and having a guy like that around,” Cardinals pitcher Jack Flaherty said, “to be able to communicate some things and be able to have those conversations with and build relationships.

“He’s been here and he’s done it. He did it as a big leaguer, and then to come back and want to talk about things that aren’t necessarily baseball, there are things that are more important in this world and should mean a lot.”

Finding the right medium for that message has meant meeting the players where they’re at. Scruggs’s work has taken him throughout all levels of the organization, including a notable gathering of players at minor league spring training at the team’s facility in Jupiter, Fla.

Some of those players graduated high school as recently as last year. Many are still teenagers. And so Scruggs has gotten creative.

“Today’s generation, they’re using TikTok and Instagram, so I’m well versed,” Scruggs said with a laugh. “But for me, I have to be able to say, ‘How do I reach these guys in today’s generation when their attention span is six to 15 seconds?’ So I got to figure out the best way to do that. And for me, it’s the ability to relate to them in the technology that they use today.”

Those updates come regularly; Scruggs published a video on TikTok this week with his reaction to the controversy surrounding Tony La Russa’s enforcement of baseball’s unwritten rules in his management of the Chicago White Sox. To reach players more directly, though, he’s turned to a tool used by the team to disseminate information as wide ranging as travel schedules and daily lineups — Teamworks, a social media platform designed specifically for use with athletes.

The Cardinals use Teamworks to coordinate throughout and even outside the organization; its text messaging features, for instance, are familiar to reporters who receive daily coordinates for press conferences held on Zoom.

Scruggs has used it to share videos and reading material which he hopes cut through the intersectional differences among organizational personnel and share the message of inclusion and union that’s at the center of his work.

Chances for growth that remain abstract

To hear the voice of Cardinals manager Mike Shildt, as in one recent video, captioned in Spanish, as he shares his experiences of growing in his understanding of players as he rose through the ranks as a minor league manager can provide context to growth opportunities which might otherwise remain abstract.

Those abstractions becoming reality came to the forefront last summer, as teams throughout Major League Baseball chose not to take the field after the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Wisconsin. The Cardinals, coming off a long stoppage due to COVID-19, were one of only two teams who did not have a game postponed in the aftermath of that incident.

“I think there would have been more conversations and the handling a little bit easier to have a guy like him around,” said Flaherty, who along with then-teammate Dexter Fowler did sit out one game. “I think things were handled well, but I think having a guy like him around can help these things out and make some of these a little bit easier.”

“Last summer social injustices moved to front and center during the pandemic so seeing how we could help during this time is what led to connecting and partnering with Xavier,” Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak said.

Scruggs key part of committee

Scruggs has become a key part of the organization’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee, which Mozeliak described as “large.”

“When you look at things that could touch him, it’s almost A to Z,” Mozeliak said about the possibility of Scruggs’s role expanding to include gender and accessibility issues. “We’ll have him teamed up with other people that he can interact with, so that if there’s something that he’s not comfortable dealing with, there’s other people he could have to help address it.

“But ultimately, it’s a relationship game, and he brings a unique skill set to this.”

Scruggs knows he doesn’t have all of the answers, but he’s excited to ask the questions. And from that, he’s hopeful that he can continue to push the Cardinals organization to continually refine and develop a culture that reflects not only those under contract but also those who have a fan’s emotional investment in the team.

Scruggs focuses on inclusivity

That culture, for Scruggs, demands inclusivity.

“We don’t want anybody to feel like they can’t speak up, right? You want to be able to say, hey, this is my idea for the organization. This is my idea for this plan. And when people are able to do that, we get creative, and we’re able to do some really special things.

“I don’t want anybody to think that my job is to make players feel like they need to be advocates. I want players to understand the platform that they have. And if they use the voice that they have, or use the resources that they have, use the influence that they have to understand how that will be received positively and negatively.

“I think once players understand that, I think they’ll have a better understanding of how to go about using what they have as a platform on the field and off the field.”