Reports: Marlins hire Cardinals bench coach Skip Schumaker as manager

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV) - For the second off-season in a row, the Cardinals are in the market for a new bench coach.

Multiple reports circulating Tuesday have stated that the Miami Marlins are hiring Skip Schumaker as their new manager. Schumaker spent the 2022 season as the bench coach for Oliver Marmol in St. Louis and has been considered widely as a managerial prospect on the rise in recent years.

BREAKING : The Miami Marlins are hiring Skip Schumaker as their next Manager per source.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) October 25, 2022

After an 11-year MLB playing career that included a lengthy stint with the Cardinals, Schumaker entered the coaching ranks with the San Diego Padres in 2018. He was later elevated from a base coach to the associate manager role with San Diego under Jayce Tingler.

Schumaker joined the Cardinals as Marmol’s right-hand man in St. Louis after Tingler was fired in 2021. Though he had mutual options remaining on his contract with St. Louis, the Cardinals had to know the possibility loomed large for Schumaker to someday earn a head job with another organization. Following a rapid ascent through the coaching ranks over the past five years, that day has arrived for the 42-year-old Schumaker.

In Miami, Schumaker will take over a club that finished in fourth place in the National League East division with a record of 69-93 this past season. The strength of the Marlins moving forward is expected to be the club’s wealth of young pitching talent, which includes former Cardinal Sandy Alcantara along with several other highly regarded arms.

Schumaker replaces Don Mattingly in Miami. Mattingly stepped down as Marlins manager at the end of the season after serving in the role since 2016.

It’s not yet known which direction the Cardinals will turn to fill their bench coach vacancy. Internal options could include first base coach Stubby Clapp, third base coach Ron ‘Pop’ Warner and Memphis Redbirds manager Ben Johnson.