To the surprise of the entire St. Louis Cardinals fanbase, Matt Holliday has stepped down from the role of bench coach after having assumed the position in November to replace Skip Schumaker.
To fill the void left by Holliday’s departure, the Cardinals have hired Joe McEwing as their new bench coach.
McEwing has spent the past 16 years in the Chicago White Sox organization, where he has served in multiple coaching roles.
Most recently, he was the team’s third-base coach under former Cardinals skipper Tony La Russa.
On Twitter, the Cardinals welcomed their new bench coach, while also announcing the news of Holliday’s resignation.
Joe McEwing will serve as Bench Coach for the 2023 season, replacing Matt Holliday who has resigned the post.
The former #STLCards super-utility man has spent the last 15 years coaching in the White Sox organization, most recently as 3B coach and also bench coach from 2017-20. pic.twitter.com/JiQij3ZlZI
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) January 12, 2023
McEwing, often known as “Super Joe”, does have some history with the organization.
The Cardinals drafted the super utilityman in 1992, and he played the first two seasons of his career in St. Louis.
McEwing was traded to the New York Mets, where he would spend most of his career, after the 1999 season.
He would spend his final two seasons with the Kansas City Royals and Houston Astros, respectively.
He retired after the 2006 season.
The Cardinals have traditionally stayed within the organization when finding coaching replacements.
When former manager Mike Shildt was fired, the team promoted Oliver Marmol to the managerial role after several years as the bench coach.
But with the 50-year-old’s connections to the Cardinals organization, the hire makes sense.
Over the course of his nine-year MLB career, he hit for a .251 average and popped 25 home runs.
His best season came in 2001 with the Mets, when he hit eight home runs and had a career-best batting average of .283.
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