Overview
- A source confirmed Wednesday that the Cardinals will hire 35-year-old Joel McKeithan from the Chicago White Sox to replace Brant Brown as their lead hitting coach.
- McKeithan spent the 2025–26 seasons as a White Sox assistant after earlier MLB roles with the Cincinnati Reds and minor-league posts in the Phillies and Tigers systems.
- The White Sox ranked among MLB’s best run producers and home-run teams in 2026, a record that made McKeithan an attractive external hire for clubs seeking offensive help.
- The Cardinals finished 2026 with one of the league’s weakest offenses by wRC+ and home-run totals, and the club has rotated hitting coaches several times in the last five years as it looks for improvement.
- Chicago expects to keep most of its hitting staff and will search externally to replace McKeithan, while St. Louis will task McKeithan with working directly with a young roster and integrating analytic and Driveline-style methods into daily work.