Why Oliver Marmol, the Major League’s youngest manager, is a perfect fit for the Cardinals

Even as he’s seen some positive results, Dakota Hudson has struggled to meaningfully update the profile of his pitches in the way that the Cardinals believe is most likely to result in consistent success.

That may not be particularly revelatory, but the method in which it’s discussed and explained is illustrative of why the club has made the choices they’ve made elsewhere in the dugout.

Last Friday’s announcement by president of baseball operations John Mozeliak that Oliver Marmol would return for a third season as Cardinals manager was not, it’s fair to say, met with collective enthusiasm. Coming off the club’s first losing season in 15 years, the surpassing desire for “accountability” – that’s barely code for people getting fired – has increased in volume as the months have dragged on.

Marmol is responsible for sitting in his office every afternoon and in front of cameras every night and explaining the failures of a team whose fans demand success. That’s an unenviable position for anyone, and perhaps especially so for the youngest manager in the majors and one of few without big league experience as a player.

And yet, over dozens of hours of conversation about the game, his tactics, and various organizational philosophies, it’s exceedingly easy to see why the Cardinals have determined to hitch their wagon to his skills, at least in the intermediate term. He thinks and can explain the game in a modern way that is met with scorn in some reactionary corners but is valued highly by both coaches and executives. He is, in many ways, predictable, which carries whatever connotations an observer might impart.

Predictability, though, makes him just about perfect for the Cardinals.

“As a competitor, I don’t think you’re ever in that mode of ‘This is who I am,’ and ‘I hope it works out,’” Marmol said Sunday in discussing Hudson’s repertoire in a way that is broadly applicable to his team. “I think there’s always adjustments to, how do I improve this pitch? How do I throw it in a better spot, count-dependent?

“There’s some positives to this, but there’s work to be done.”

To be sure, that’s also true of the manager and his season to date, which he would be the first to acknowledge. Indeed, on occasion he has come in the day after a game and reflected on tactical decisions which, regardless of outcome, he might handle differently if given a chance to do it over again.

He’s been less publicly circumspect about other situations which lingered in the air around a difficult season. April’s public criticism of Tyler O’Neill’s effort level was greatly overblown in terms of its potential impact in the clubhouse, but it was perhaps symptomatic of his transparency about where players stand in his estimation that can sometimes be difficult to navigate.

More than one player over the course of the season has privately expressed some dismay over knowing precisely where they (negatively) stood in the manager’s eyes. Accountability is important for organizing a clubhouse, but it’s seemingly been difficult for some to make it back to the positive side of the ledger after finding themselves on the skipper’s bad side.

Nor was his public criticism of umpire CB Bucknor entirely conducive to team success. There’s a belief in the game that older, established umpires are more likely to be vindictive than their younger counterparts due to their relative security, and regardless of whether Bucknor was inappropriately personal with Marmol last fall (he was) or whether he’s a generally poor umpire (he is), starting the year in thrall to the whims of those with their hands directly on the levers of control of the game made for difficult positioning.

These, however, ultimately amount to minor quibbles. Sunday’s game against the Phillies was in some ways a perfect demonstration of the appeal of his skill set, given the unorthodox bullpen usage. A press box can be a place of lively discussion, and it stands out that during John King’s surprising matchups in that game’s eighth inning, the discussion about his strategic choices settled on the assumption that reporters were perhaps missing a piece of important information.

Not long ago, it would’ve been entirely fair to ask if the manager was even aware of the relevant information governing matchups. Or, perhaps, if he was managing the team on the field in a way that was designed to send a message to his bosses as much as it was to win the game in front of him.

That’s not the case with Oliver Marmol. What some call precision, others might call bloodless, or a demonstration of a new school of thinking that draws reflexive pushback. And yet it’s precisely his passion that can sometimes feed a flaw while at the same time drawing in the trust and respect of the established veteran players who will ultimately determine whether a team is or isn’t fully bought in.

It’s been an awful year of baseball in St. Louis. It’s difficult to impossible to pin that on the manager. His return tour in 2024 is well deserved, but he will have to pitch in a better spot, count-dependent.