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Cardinals fire hitting coach Turner Ward after season-long struggle to score runs

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Cardinals fire hitting coach Turner Ward after season-long struggle to score runs

Under hitting Coach Turner Ward, the St. Louis Cardinals were one of the worst run-scoring clubs in the National League for 2024. (Photo by Joe Puetz/Getty Images)

The St. Louis Cardinals have fired hitting coach Turner Ward after a season in which the team’s offense was one of the worst in the National League.

While the Cardinals ranked near the middle of the league in team batting average (.248) and OPS (.704), scoring runs was a struggle.

Their 672 runs were the fourth-worst total in the league, resulting in a -74 run differential for the season. The Cardinals also hit the fourth-fewest home runs in the NL with 165. St. Louis finished with a .229 average and .645 OPS with runners in scoring position, both the worst in the NL and fourth-worst in MLB.

Previously reliable hitters like Paul Goldschmidt (.245 average, .716 OPS) and Nolan Arenado (.719 OPS, 16 home runs) posted career-worst numbers this season. The Cardinals reportedly won’t bring Goldschmidt back after his contract expired this season, according to The Athletic.

Despite that and the negative run differential, St. Louis finished with an 83–79 record, tied for second place in the NL Central, 10 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers.

Ward had been the Cardinals’ hitting coach since 2023 after one season as the team’s assistant batting coach. He was previously the hitting coach with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds in six seasons on major league coaching staffs before joining the Cardinals.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol acknowledged that batting with runners in scoring position is something that varies from year to year, but thinks the team needs a new approach in those situations.

“One, it was not good and it’s not something that is predictive from year-to-year,” Marmol told MLB.com’s John Denton. “It is something to address as far as the, ‘Why weren’t we good?’ And it’s something we dug into quite a bit. It needs to be a point of emphasis [in 2025].”

The Cardinals announced that Marmol would return as manager for the 2025 season. He’s under contract through 2026. Marmol is expected to bring back assistant hitting coach Brandon Allen, game-planning coach Packy Elkins and first base coach Stubby Clapp.

The St. Louis front office will undergo changes over the next year with John Mozeliak stepping down as president of baseball operations after the 2025 season and former Boston Red Sox executive Chaim Bloom replacing him.

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