The St. Louis Cardinals will have a familiar face on the coaching staff in 2023. Longtime Cardinals slugger and 2011 World Series champion Matt Holliday has rejoined St. Louis as their bench coach, the team announced Sunday. Holliday will replace Skip Schumaker, who was named manager of the Miami Marlins last month, on Oli Marmol's staff.
Holliday, 43 in January, last played in 2018 and has no prior coaching or managerial experience at the professional level. He has served as an outfield and hitting coach for Oklahoma State, where his brother Josh is the head coach, since 2019. Former Cardinal Matt Carpenter credited Holliday for helping him fix his swing last offseason.
One of the best hitters of his era, Holliday joined the Cardinals in a 2009 deadline trade with the Oakland Athletics, and slashed .293/.380/.494 in parts of eight seasons with St. Louis. He averaged 26 home runs and 3.8 WAR per 162 games with the Cardinals. Holliday started and finished his career with the Colorado Rockies, and also had a stint with the New York Yankees.
In addition to hiring Holliday, the Cardinals also elevated Dusty Blake to pitching coach and Turner Ward to hitting coach. Blake previously held the title of pitching strategist. Turner was the team's assistant hitting coach and had stints as the primary hitting coach with the Arizona Diamondbacks (2014-15), Los Angeles Dodgers (2016-18), and Cincinnati Reds (2016).
