Mike Shildt

Mike Shildt (born August 9, 1968) is an American baseball manager for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball. Shildt became the manager of the Johnson City Cardinals, the Cardinals Short Season A affiliate, in 2009, along with his scouting duties. He was promoted as manager of the Cardinals AA affiliate, the Springfield Cardinals, in 2011. He joined the major league coaching staff in 2017 and became manager[1] in 2018 after the dismissal of Mike Matheny. On July 15, 2018, he collected his first managerial win in a 6–4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. On October 9, 2019, he led his team to a 13-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves to win the NLDS.

Mike Shildt
Shildt at Scott Air Force Base in 2019
St. Louis Cardinals – No. 8
Coach / Manager
Born: (1968-08-09) August 9, 1968
Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.
Career statistics
Managerial record131–95
Winning %.580
Teams
As coach

As manager

Career highlights and awards

Early career

Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Shildt played high school baseball at Olympic High School and college baseball for University of North Carolina (UNC) Asheville Bulldogs.[2] After his playing career ended as he "couldn't hit a curve ball", Shildt became a coach at West Charlotte High School where he helped bring the baseball team their 1st winning season in 20 years,[3][2] After leaving the high school, Shildt was hired by UNC Charlotte to become an assistant coach for the Charlotte 49ers baseball team.[2][3] He held the position for five years.[2] During the off-season he owned a baseball training facility in North Carolina, becoming a full-time baseball instructor to area youths.[2]

St. Louis Cardinals system

Shildt started his Major League Baseball career as an associate scout with the league for three seasons.[2] He moved on to the Cardinals organization, working as the area scout for North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.[2] On a recommendation from future Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak, Shildt began his minor league coaching career as a part-time coach. Shildt was sent to the Cardinals' Single-A affiliate in the New York–Penn League. He was a part-time coach during 2004 and 2005, while continuing his scouting duties.[2] He was promoted to a full-time coaching position in 2006, and kept coaching with the single A affiliate until the 2007 season.[2] In 2008, Shildt coordinated the Cardinals' minor league spring training workout camp.[4] Afterwards he became the hitting coach for the Johnson City Cardinals for the 2008 season.[4]

Shildt was promoted to manage Johnson City in 2009, where he finished with a 37–30 record.[5] In his second season, Johnson City posted a 42–24 win-loss record, and after defeating its two playoff opponents, won the Appalachian League championship.[6] For his effort, Shildt was named St. Louis Cardinals Minor League Manager of the Year by Scout.com.[6] He was also named the Appalachian League Manager of the Year.[6] Among the players he helped improve during the season include Appalachian League's Pitcher of the Year Ryan Copeland, and batting average champion Phil Cerreto.[6] After Johnson City's season ended, Shildt was invited to spend some time on the St. Louis Cardinals roster in order to gain experience.[6] After the season, Shildt was awarded the Appalachian League Manager of the Year award, and the George Kissell Award for his "excellence in player development" by the St. Louis Cardinals organization.[7]

Johnson City repeated as league champions in 2011 under Shildt.[8] It was the first time that Johnson City clinched two consecutive league championships since 1975–1976.[8]

Shildt went on to manage the Springfield Cardinals (AA) for three seasons. Shildt guided Springfield to its first Texas League Championship before being recognized as Baseball America's Team of the Year in 2012.

Following two seasons as the manager for the Memphis Redbirds (AAA), Shildt was again promoted in 2017, this time to the MLB team, as the quality control coach. After a rough start to the 2017 season, third base coach Chris Maloney was reassigned in the organization, and Shildt became the full-time Cardinals third base coach for the rest of the 2017 season. When José Oquendo was brought back for the 2018 season to be the St. Louis Cardinals third base coach, Shildt became the team's bench coach for the 2018 season.[9] On July 14, 2018, Shildt was made interim manager of the Cardinals following the firing of Mike Matheny.[10] He became only the eighth man to manage a Major League Baseball team despite not having ever played professional baseball at any level.[11] Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweeted on August 28, 2018 that the team would remove the interim tag from Shildt's title and name him the club's permanent manager, awarding him a 3-year contract.[12][13]

Shildt won his 100th game as Cardinals manager with a 6–2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on August 9, 2019, his 51st birthday. Following a 3–2 win over the Chicago Cubs on September 22, 2019, the Cardinals clinched a playoff berth for the first time in Shildt's career as manager, and the first for the team since 2015.

Managerial record
As of games played on October 15, 2019.
TeamFromToRegular season recordPost–season record
GWLWin %GWLWin %
St. Louis Cardinals2018Present 22613195.580 936.333

References
  1. "Bob Nightengale on Twitter".
  2. Walton, Brian (21 August 2007). "Who is Mike Shildt & Why StL Fans Should Care". Scout.com. Fox Sports. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
  3. "FOCUS ON". Charlotte Observer. 1 August 1996. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
  4. Kerrick, Shawn (17 June 2008). "Johnson City Cardinals 2008 Preseason Report". TheCardinalNation.com. Fox Sports. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  5. "2009 Johnson City Cardinals season". Baseball Reference. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  6. Walton, Brian (5 November 2010). "The Cardinal Nation minor league Manager of the Year". Cardinalnation.com. Fox Sports. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
  7. Walton, Brian (13 March 2011). "Mike Shildt Wins Cards George' Kissell Award". Cardinalnation.com. Fox Sports. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
  8. Avento, Joe. "Cards keep winning big under Shildt". timesnews.net. Kingsport Publishing Corporation. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
  9. "Cardinals name Mike Shildt bench coach, Jose Oquendo third base coach". 23 October 2017.
  10. "Cardinals (47-46) ax Matheny in seventh season".
  11. Verducci, Tom. "Nine Innings: The Cardinals' Turnaround Behind Mike Shildt, Fixing Suspensions and Sorting the NL West". Sports Illustrated.
  12. "Bob Nightengale on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  13. Goold, Derrick. "Cardinals set to drop interim tag, make Shildt manager". stltoday.com. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  14. "Mike Shildt". Baseball Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
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