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The Cardinals will have a new look coaching staff in 2023, after president of baseball operations John Mozeliak announced at his end-of-season press conference that pitching coach Mike Maddux was stepping down and hitting coach Jeff Albert had elected not to return in 2023. Mozeliak also announced that bullpen coach Bryan Eversgerd has been reassigned as a special assistant with the organization (Links via Derrick Goold of the St Louis Post-Dispatch and Katie Woo of The Athletic).
Mozeliak said he was willing to offer both Maddux and Albert new contracts, per Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat. He adds that Maddux is stepping away after a long career, but does not say that the veteran pitching coach is retiring. On Albert, Mozeliak says the hitting coach grew “frustrated” by the frequency with which he “took blame”, particularly among social media comments, for the team’s hitting struggles.
Maddux, 61, joined the Cardinals ahead of the 2018 season after previously spending two seasons as the Nationals pitching coach. The older brother of Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux, Mike enjoyed a 14-year playing career before retiring in 2000. He began his coaching career in the Astros organization, before landing his first big league coaching gig with the Brewers. He stayed there until 2008 before joining the Rangers and then Nationals.
Albert, 41, initially began as a hitting coach in the Cardinals’ minor league system. He was signed by the Astros to be their minor league hitting coordinator before they promoted him to assistant hitting coach on the major league club in 2018. He lasted there a year before the Cardinals brought him back ahead of the 2019 season to serve as hitting coach.
Eversgerd, 53, has been in the Cardinals organization since 2001, and served as their bullpen coach since 2018.
The Cardinals now have four open positions on their coaching staff, after bench coach Skip Schumacher landed the Marlins manager job.
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