Bench coach Marmol takes over for Cardinals

As Oliver Marmol transitioned into a coaching career with the St. Louis Cardinals, it became clear he had the potential to become a big league manager one day.

That day has arrived — a little earlier than expected.

Marmol, 35, was promoted from bench coach to the majors’ youngest manager Monday, taking over the Cardinals almost two weeks after Mike Shildt was fired in a surprise move by one of baseball’s most stable franchises.

“I really felt like Oli was going to be a major league manager at some point. I did not think it was necessarily going to be 2022,” said John Mozeliak, the president of baseball operations for the Cardinals.

Marmol is the team’s youngest manager since Marty Marion at age 34 in 1951. Marmol, a New Jersey native who traces his lineage to the Dominican Republic, also becomes the franchise’s second minority manager. Cuban-born Mike Gonzalez managed the team for parts of the 1938 and 1940 seasons.

Marmol was picked by St. Louis in the sixth round of the 2007 amateur draft out of the College of Charleston, but his playing career stalled at Class A Palm Beach. After coaching and managing in the minors, he joined the Cardinals’ major league staff in 2017 as the first base coach.

He spent the past three years as the bench coach under Shildt, helping St. Louis to three consecutive postseason appearances.

Astros

Lance McCullers won’t pitch in the World Series for the Houston Astros because of a forearm strain. After a career-high 13 wins in the regular season, when he also had a 3.16 ERA and 185 strikeouts, McCullers got hurt in the AL Division Series.

He pitched 6.2 scoreless innings in a Game 1 victory over the Chicago White Sox but let after four innings in Game 4 with what the team said was forearm tightness.

Cubs

Houston Astros executive Ehsan Bokhari, 38, was hired as assistant general manager. The move comes a week and a half after the Cubs hired Carter Hawkins from Cleveland’s front office as general manager to work under president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer.

Mariners

Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. will become part owner of the Seattle franchise after purchasing a stake in the ballclub. Griffey was the No. 1 overall pick in the amateur draft by the Mariners in 1987, and he spent his first 11 seasons with the Mariners, helping them to a pair of AL West titles. He engineered a trade to Cincinnati following the 1999 season but made his way back to Seattle for the conclusion of his career in 2009 and part of the 2010 season before retiring at age 40.