At the same ballpark where he and his Cardinals teammates once celebrated a playoff clinching in 2014 on their way to what would be a fourth consecutive National League Championship Series appearance, Daniel Descalso stood in street clothes along the third-base line several weeks ago. His latest club brought him back to the World Series, and while chatting with a reporter Descalso considered his next step.
He spent the past year within Arizona’s front office and explored various facets of baseball operations, from field work to boardroom. Ahead of a World Series game at Chase Field, as the Diamondbacks finished batting practice, the former infielder described the different roles he saw that might someday fit.
Someday.
He wasn’t sure when.
The Cardinals called a few days later.
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Someday was now.
“I was on track to stay upstairs with Arizona again for another year, continue to figure that out,†Descalso said. “As a former player I’ve always gravitated toward the guys in the batting cage and being on the field, and I think as a player and a competitor it was always going to be hard for me not to gravitate that way. So, when the Cardinals had an opportunity to be in the dugout, to be around the players, and to have an opportunity to do that every day? The more I thought about it, the more that felt like home for me.â€
Named the Cardinals’ bench coach in November, Descalso began December as part of the club’s representation at the MLB winter meetings this past week. Being in Nashville, Tennessee, with manager Oliver Marmol and executives allowed Descalso to be around acquisition discussions and meet members of the front office with whom he will work closely in his new position. In the coming weeks, he plans to have conversations with players.
Descalso, who signed a multi-year contract, will be the Cardinals’ third consecutive bench coach who played second base for them and their third different bench coach in three seasons. His hiring reveals a lot about what Marmol seeks in a bench coach and what the manager and Cardinals strive to create within a coaching staff.
“Descalso is a winner, bottom line,†Marmol said. “He knows what it looks like to win. He holds guys accountable. The game’s about people, and he’s extremely relational. He has instant credibility when he steps into that clubhouse. The reality is I think one day he’s going to manage. He’s a great communicator. He’s very organized. And he leads well.â€
A lot of turnover
Since Marmol became manager in October 2021, the Cardinals have hired four bench coaches: Skip Schumaker, Matt Holliday briefly, Joe McEwing and now Descalso. When Holliday bowed out of the position earlier this year to assure more time with his family, the club felt fortunate McEwing, a former Cardinal with bench coach experience, was available. With Descalso’s hiring, McEwing recently changed roles and now is a special assistant in John Mozeliak’s front office.
The traits Schumaker, Holliday, and Descalso share are telling when it comes to how the Cardinals currently see the bench coach’s role and what characteristic Marmol seeks in that partnership.
At the time of their hiring, all are interested in managing at some point and Marmol has said in the past how that aspiration appeals to him, as it did with Schumaker.
All are recently retired as players.
All had former teammates they will coach.
All have been Cardinals.
All have been World Series champions as Cardinals.
The relationship a recently retired player who has shared a clubhouse with prominent Cardinals is one of the characteristics Marmol and the front office prioritized and saw in Descalso. Immediately after the World Series, Descalso received a call from Arizona general manager Mike Hazen, and Hazen told Descalso the Cardinals had asked permission to speak with him about a coaching position. He did not get other details until a Zoom call with Mozeliak, the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations, and Marmol. It was then that Descalso saw his fit.
“I have a lot of experience at the big-league level and know what it looks like to win at the big-league level,†said Descalso, who won a title in 2011 with the Cardinals, a pennant in 2013 with them and played 10 years in the majors. “But more importantly, my ability to connect with players, connect with the other members of the staff, offer that line of communication — that is so important between the staff members, between staff and players, and just the responsibility that comes along with that role.
“Having a large responsibility in helping this team win ballgames,†Descalso continued. “The more I heard the more I liked how it sounded.â€
Descalso, 37, retired after the 2019 season, which he spent in Chicago.
That summer he shared the Cubs clubhouse with an All-Star catcher, Willson Contreras, who is now with the Cardinals.
The previous two years, Descalso played in Arizona with an All-Star first baseman, Paul Goldschmidt. And the two years before that, Descalso was an infielder for Colorado, sometimes playing alongside an All-Star third baseman, Nolan Arenado. Those two are now the cornerstones of the Cardinals’ infield and lineup.
“I think I’ve earned enough respect from all three of those guys that if we have to a have a conversation that’s uncomfortable, hopefully they’ll know it’s coming from a place of love and wanting them to be the best player they can be,†Descalso said. “I’ve earned those guys’ respect. I know (Goldschmidt and Arenado) are both chasing a ring, and if I can help them get to that next level, that would be awesome.â€
A long bond
Rejoining the Cardinals nearly 10 years after his final game as a Cardinal also reunites Descalso with one of his first teammates and his first double-play partner.
In 2007, the Cardinals drafted Descalso in the third round, 112th overall. Ninety picks later they selected a shortstop from the College of Charleston — Oliver Marmol. On June 19, 2007, Descalso and Marmol made their pro debuts as middle infielders for the Class A Batavia Muckdogs, a club that also featured Tommy Pham. Marmol batted leadoff; Descalso started at second. A day later, in the Muckdogs’ first win of the season, Descalso and Marmol turned their first double play as pros to end the eighth inning.
As Descalso rose to the majors as a player, Marmol shifted to coaching and began his own climb toward the majors. They kept in touch, maintained their ties.
“Oli and I came up in the same organization,†Descalso said. “We had the same people teaching us what winning baseball looks like. To us, we see winning baseball the same way. I didn’t show up to be a yes-man to him. We’re going to have some good, interesting conversations about baseball. But at least we know what good, winning baseball looks like from a fundamental everyday standpoint.â€
The Cardinals’ response to their 91-loss, last-place finish this year has been at least two-tracked this offseason. They wanted to sign starters who could provide reliable innings and they intend to expand Marmol’s coaching staff. In both pursuits, they have sought experience.
Descalso will be a first-year bench coach, but so many summers in the majors and his existing close relationship with core Cardinals is what the club wanted. This past week, the Cardinals also officially hired Yadier Molina as a special assistant and he will spend time in uniform, in the dugout, and with the Cardinals’ big-league team. The Cardinals plan to hire at least one more coach to aid the pitching staff, and Mozeliak said they’ll look for someone with a big-league background and experience game-planning.
Back at the World Series game, Descalso talked a bit about where he saw his career going next. He had just returned from a trip with Jon Jay, one of his closest friends and fellow Cardinals champion. The first base coach for Miami, Jay has often mused about coaching with Descalso in the majors. For Descalso’s first step back onto the field and back into uniform, the fit had to be right.
And not just with the jersey.
But where he and the team wanted to go.
“It’s obviously a place that I had a lot of fun, had a lot of success on those teams, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t think about, hey, it would be cool to work there again,†Descalso said of the Cardinals. “I didn’t know it was going to be this soon — or at all in this role. I’m excited to be back and to help get them back where we want to go.â€