Who is Oliver Marmol and why could he be the St. Louis Cardinals’ next manager?

Development at the lower level of the minor leagues isn’t exclusively about finding players for the big leagues.

There’s also an aspect of personal development that functions as an investment in finding the people who might form the backbone of a club’s instructional and scouting staff. Institutional knowledge is passed from coaches to players who, in turn, become coaches once they hit their competitive ceilings.

This is the path taken by Oliver Marmol, who played for the Palm Beach Cardinals in 2010 and was a hitting coach for the Gulf Coast League Cardinals in 2011. In 2012, the year he turned 26, he was already a manager for rookie ball Johnson City.

By 2017, he was coaching in the majors and was 30 years old with five years of minor league managerial experience.

If hired to be Mike Shildt’s replacement as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, Marmol would be the youngest person by date of birth ever hired as the manager of a major league club, and the first person of color to manage the Cardinals since Mike González did so for 22 games in 1938 and 1940.

In many ways, he would represent the ultimate test of the fruits borne out by player development.

Who is Oliver Marmol?

Drafted by the Cardinals from the College of Charleston in 2007, Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina had already closed out a World Series together before Marmol signed his first professional contract.

He spent four seasons at the lower level of the minor leagues, primarily shifting around the infield, but recorded only 774 minor league at bats as he searched for a consistent swing.

Finding it instead in the cage, he took over as a hitting coach for the split season GCL Cardinals before being handed the reins to the Johnson City Cardinals of the Appalachian League.

In his first four seasons as a manager, his teams never finished lower than second place, and he was pegged as a rising star in the organization when he was promoted to coach first base on Mike Matheny’s staff in 2017, following Chris Maloney’s move to third due to José Oquendo’s step back from daily duties.

Answering to “Ollie,” never Oliver, Marmol was born and raised in Florida and is fluent in Spanish. He has been a ubiquitous on-field presence during pregame work since being promoted to be Mike Shildt’s bench coach after the 2018 season, and in that role has managed the club alongside pitching coach Mike Maddux for parts of games from which Shildt was ejected.

Why is he a good fit?

If the Cardinals made a change in the dugout indeed because of a philosophical break with one man, then Marmol would represent a return of harmony.

Popular up and down the roster and well respected despite his youth, the adjustment period to a new skipper would be minimal. Almost all of the players who would be on next year’s roster would already have played for him, at least in short stretches.

Marmol’s first season as a major league manager would not be his first season at the helm of a club. Indeed, with nearly 500 games and five full seasons of minor league managerial experience, he understands the day-to-day process of managing not only an individual game but the nuances of a team.

He’s also engaging, open to conversation, and would represent a fresh face that would bring enthusiasm and positivity as the face of an organization which too often rings hollow or false. Managers can lose themselves quickly in the pressure of the position, but Marmol is as self-assured as his meteoric rise would suggest.

What are the downsides?

Everything about Marmol is good on paper and exciting in concept, but there’s no way to know how the youngest manager in big league history would handle the job until he holds it. The Cardinals would likely seek to supplement him with an experienced bench coach, but in doing so would run the risk of undercutting his authority.

For all the respect Marmol carries in the dugout and throughout the organization, he did not even briefly reach the big leagues. Indeed, he would be managing players who were contending for a World Series at the same time he was playing A-ball, and might be viewed as an extension of the front office.

Already the youngest member of the coaching staff, if Marmol were to take over as its head, he would be faced with wrangling a crew composed of individuals who feel as though they might’ve deserved a shot at the big chair.

What’s the verdict?

Marmol may well be the front runner for the position, and if so, then the organization will have delivered on the promise it saw in him in Florida a decade ago. He would be an exciting hire who would bring energy and positivity while still providing the long-desired continuity.

Still, in many ways, he remains an unknown. Everything about Oliver Marmol suggests he’s earned an opportunity. It’s impossible to know how it would turn out until it’s provided.

This story was originally published October 20, 2021 at 5:00 AM.