As planning for the 2023 season accelerated and the start of spring training appeared on the next page of the calendar, it became clearer to Matt Holliday the time he would miss now with his kids to start chasing a future as a coach in a major-league dugout.
He made the decision to resign as bench coach before the role began.
The Cardinals announced Thursday morning that Joe McEwing, a longtime White Sox coach and former utility player for the Cardinals who earned the nickname "Super," had been hired as Oliver Marmol's new bench coach. In the same announcement, the Cardinals confirmed Holliday's resignation.
"When it came down to it, I just didn't want to miss all the things with my kids," Holliday told the Post-Dispatch on Thursday morning. "In theory, four months out it seemed like something I wanted. As it got closer, I just felt like I stopped playing (in the majors) because I didn't want to miss all the things you miss. When you say 'yes' to something you say 'no' to something else."
Matt and Leslee Holliday have four kids, three of them high school age or younger. Their oldest, Jackson, was the first overall pick in the 2022 MLB draft and signed this past summer with the Baltimore Orioles. Ethan Holliday, one of the best prep players in the country, has already committed to Oklahoma State. After Matt's retirement from playing baseball in 2018 the family moved to Stillwater, Okla.
Josh Holliday, Matt's brother, is the head coach at Oklahoma State, and Matt has been working with the program as a volunteer assistant coach.
McEwing, 50, spent the past 15 seasons with the White Sox. He interviewed for the Cardinals' manager position after the 2011 season and was considered one of the six finalists for the job that went to Mike Matheny.
With the White Sox, McEwing has served as bench coach (2017-2020) and spent the past two seasons as the club's third base coach for manager Tony La Russa. The White Sox notified him at the end of the season that he would not receive an offer to return as they introduced a new manager and staff.
McEwing will be introduced at this weekend's Winter Warm-up.
Part of Holliday's role with the team was going to be working with hitters and hitting coach Turner Ward. With Holliday's decision, the Cardinals added Daniel Nicolaisen, a minor-league hitting coordinator with the Cardinals, to the big-league staff as the third hitting coach.
Patrick “Packy” Elkins, who has been assisting the hitters and hitting coaches in recent seasons, will expand his responsibilities by working with both pitchers and hitters when it comes to analytics and scouting.
Holliday was set to replace his former teammate Skip Schumaker as bench coach after the Miami Marlins hired Schumaker as manager. Before his second season as manager, Marmol has already seen a significant turnover on his staff with hitting coach Jeff Albert and pitching coach Mike Maddux leaving for positions with other major-league clubs.
The Cardinals promoted Turner Ward to hitting coach and Dusty Blake to pitching coach earlier this offseason.
