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Cardinals Announce 2025 Minor League Staff and Player Development

CARDINALS ANNOUNCE MINOR LEAGUE COACHING STAFFS AND PLAYER DEVELOPMENT ASSIGNMENTS FOR 2025

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ST. LOUIS, Mo., January 17, 2025 – The St. Louis Cardinals announced today the 2025 coaching staffs for their minor league affiliates, in addition to their player development and medical personnel for the upcoming season.

Ben Johnson returns for his 7th season at Memphis (AAA), while Gary Kendall (4th season) and Fray Peniche (15th season) will also be returning to their managerial posts at Palm Beach (A) and DSL (Rookie), respectively.  Patrick Anderson will take the helm at Springfield (AA) after managing the three previous seasons in Peoria, replacing former skipper José Leger, who will now serve as Assistant Field & Baserunning Coordinator based in Jupiter.  Roberto Espinoza, who managed the last four seasons in the Florida Complex League, has been bumped up to lead Peoria (High-A) while former Palm Beach hitting coach Willi Martin has been promoted to manage the rookie-level FCL Cardinals.

New hires to the minor league coaching staffs include Peter Mooney (Memphis bench coach), Danny Black (Springfield bench coach), Michael Oh (Palm Beach pitching coach), Rich Benjamin (FCL bench coach), and Walter Miranda in the newly created role of rehab pitching coach.

Following is a complete listing of the Cardinals 2025 Minor League Staffs and Player Development assignments:

ClubManagerPitching CoachHitting CoachBench Coach
Memphis (AAA)Ben Johnson*Darwin Marrero*Howie Clark*Peter Mooney#
Springfield (AA)Patrick Anderson^Eric Peterson*Casey Chenoweth*Danny Black#
Peoria (High-A)Roberto Espinoza^Will Hawks^Elvis Rodriguez*Luis Arenado^
Palm Beach (A)Gary Kendall*Michael Oh#Paul Benoit^TBD
FCL (Rookie)Willi Martin^Dernier Orozco*Erick Almonte*Rich Benjamin#
Will Peterson^
DSL (Rookie)Fray Peniche*Bill Villanueva*Luis Cruz*Wessley Cuas*
Wilman Madera*

Player Development Assignments

Asst GM, Player Development & Performance – Rob Cerfolio#      
Director, Player Development – Larry Day#
Director, Performance – Carl Kochan#
Director, Pitching – Matt Pierpont#Manager, Player Development – Antonio Mújica^
Assistant Director, Performance – Thomas Knox*Manager, Player Dev. & Performance – Emily Wiebe*

Minor League Coordinators & Instructors

Field Coordinator – Ryan Barba#Fundamentals CoordinatorJosé Oquendo^
Assistant Field & Baserunning Coordinator – José Leger^Pitching Instructor/Special AdvisorJason Isringhausen*
Pitching Coordinator – Austin Meine#Hitting & Outfield Instructor/Special AdvisorRyan Ludwick*
Pitching Coordinator – Rick Harig*Rehab Pitching Coach – Walter Miranda#
Hitting Coordinator – Russ Steinhorn*Roving CoachBernard Gilkey^
Assistant Hitting Coordinator – Brock Hammit^Equipment Manager – Dave Vonderhaar*
Catching Coordinator – Ethan Goforth#

Medical Staff

Medical Coordinator – Chris Whitman*Performance Specialist – Ross Hasegawa*
Strength & Conditioning Coordinator – Jackie Gover*Performance Specialist – Megumi Pennebaker*
Rehabilitation Coordinator – Victor Kuri*Performance Specialist Rehab – Nick Arpino*
Dominican Medical Coordinator – Pedro Betancourt*

Athletic Trainers

Memphis – Dan Martin*Palm Beach – Jeff Case*
Springfield – Alex Wolfinger*Florida Complex League – Kiomy Martinez-Ortiz*, Riku Shabata*
Peoria – Paden Eveland*Dominican Summer League – TBD

Strength & Conditioning Coaches

Memphis – Jon Hill#Palm Beach – Harben Filho Branco*
SpringfieldRyan Duffy*Florida Complex League – Spencer Clevenger*, Ryuta Takahashi*
Peoria – Campbell Quirk*Dominican Summer League – Elvis Hernandez*, Gerardo De Leon*

Video & Technology / Affiliate Fellows

Manager, Video & Technology – DC MacLea^
Player Development Video & Technology Coordinator – Brady Hall^
Jupiter Video & Technology SpecialistColin Campbell^
Memphis Fellow – Michael Factor^Palm Beach Fellow – Michelle McMillan^
Springfield Fellow – Hunter Broadbent#Florida Complex League Fellow – Lily Coffey#
Peoria Fellow – Andrew Rankin#Dominican Summer League Fellow – Paige Schultz*

* Returning Manager/Coach/Staff
^ Returning Manager/Coach/Staff with new assignment
# New Coach/Staff hire

— STL —


We’re already seeing the impacts of Chaim Bloom in the front office. The team had already announced bringing in Cerfolio and the other new player development members, but we’re seeing a lot of movement on the minor league side. Many of the coaches were moved around and a few other new faces have joined the organization.

The real test will be once the season has started. There’s going to be a lot of pressure on the system to perform and for some of these guys to move up to the big leagues; no…not just move up, but actually perform. We’ve seen good things out of Masyn Winn and stretches from Jordan Walker, but there have been more misses than hits from the minors in recent years.

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