Pitching coaches - formerly with Cardinals - playing role in World Series teams’ successes

The most important impact that the history of the St. Louis Cardinals has on the 2023 World Series won’t be Dave McKay relaying signs to Arizona Diamondbacks base runners at first, and it won’t even be Adolis García exercising his will by spraying powerful blasts around the diamond.

It’ll be in the two dugouts, and out from there to the two bullpens, as each of the two pitching coaches – Arizona’s Brent Strom and Texas’ Mike Maddux – represent significant figures who have helped define not only this fall classic, but also the dilemma in which the Cardinals currently find themselves.

There has been no shortage of discussion, for several months running, of the necessity for the team to revamp and reload its pitching staff while simultaneously reconsidering their organizational philosophies. Setting aside the apparent recent discovery that strikeouts are good, the long-time stereotype of a Cardinals pitcher has been that of a high-floor, arguably low-ceiling, durable arm that can generate ground balls and chew up innings.

That was, after all, the model strongly favored by long-time pitching coach Dave Duncan. It was the model that governed many of their choices in player acquisition and development, creating a path that can be traced from Adam Wainwright to Lance Lynn to Michael Wacha to Dakota Hudson to, as recently as 2021, Michael McGreevy, who just finished his first year at Triple-A with a strong record but concerning peripherals.

The first deep dive into data sciences with the Cardinals has been well documented, and Jeff Luhnow’s role as the leader of a front office faction that inevitably came out on top of a conflict with the pre-existing baseball operations staff allowed him the opportunity to take over his own team in Houston.

Upon his departure, his constant scraping of personnel away from the Cardinals became so egregious that eventually John Mozeliak, his former boss, was forced to step in and prevent any additional departures – ironically, it turns out, when Luhnow tried to hire Chris Correa, who would later plead guilty to crimes and spend time in federal prison after hacking into the Astros’ internal system.

Perhaps the most vital person Luhnow took with him was Strom, who arrived the same winter that saw Walt Jocketty’s departure, along with franchise stalwart Mark Riggins on the pitching development side. As the Astros pitching coach starting in 2014, Strom’s development of fastball-heavy repertoires and embrace of modern radar technology to enhance pitch shaping was credited with putting Houston far ahead of the curve and contributing, among other, more nefarious tactics, to the franchise’s first World Series title in 2017.

Maddux, on the other hand, represented an attempt by the Cardinals to return to a firm, experienced, respected hand on the wheel of the pitching staff. He came to St. Louis before the 2018 season, joining lame duck manager Mike Matheny’s staff before establishing a strong working relationship with Mike Shildt. Together, with the aim of returning to the reliable tactics that had defined the organization for so long, they re-established both trust and standards, which had eroded under Matheny and former pitching coach Derek Lilliquist.

He is, however, not averse to those technological applications that have come to define the current era of player development, and worked closely with Dusty Blake over Blake’s first two seasons in St. Louis to integrate what the data sets and mechanical studies told the team would best benefit its pitchers.

When Jordan Montgomery and Chris Stratton were shipped to Texas at this year’s trade deadline, Montgomery mused to the assembled media that he was excited the Rangers were his destination because he was eager to reunite with Maddux, with whom he has unquestionably enjoyed his greatest success as a professional.

Montgomery has spent the fall establishing himself as one of the top available free agent starters this winter, just as former Cardinals farmhand Zac Gallen has grown under Strom into Arizona’s ace and a legitimate contender for the Cy Young Award. With contrasting styles and arguably complementary skill sets, both Maddux and Strom have guided their respective teams through the October minefield and into a position to win a championship; it would be the first for the Rangers and the second for the Diamondbacks, and their first in 22 years.

The Cardinals, as they watch, will be sifting through reams of data regarding potential acquisitions. A report Wednesday from Yahoo Sports in Japan linked St. Louis to relief ace Yuki Matsui. Their interest in Phillies starter Aaron Nola and Twins starter Sonny Gray has been well documented. That search is firming up its shape, roughly two weeks before it can begin to bear fruit.

Whatever changes come in the staffing of player and pitching development will likely take the form of attempting to re-capture some of what was already in house and departed. That sort of staff attrition is natural and unavoidable. The task, now, is to identify it and deploy it yet again, this time with increased sustainability.