By Rob Rains
Matt Holliday’s stint as the bench coach for the Cardinals ended before it had a chance to begin.
A month before the start of spring training and two months after being named to the position, the Cardinals announced on Thursday that Holliday had resigned the position.
No reason was given for the move. Team officials were not immediately available for comment, but John Mozeliak, president of baseball operations, is scheduled to meet with the media on Saturday at the team’s annual Winter Warm-up event.
Former Cardinal Joe McEwing, who had coached and managed in the White Sox organization for the last 15 years, will replace Holliday for the 2023 season.
McEwing was the bench coach for the White Sox from 2017 to 2020 and spent the last two seasons as the team’s third-base coach.
Holliday was named the Cardinals’ bench coach on Nov. 6, his first professional coaching assignment. He had been working as a volunteer coach at Oklahoma State, where his brother is the head coach.
The Cardinals also announced that Daniel Nicolaisen has been added to the major-league staff as a third hitting coach. He had been the assistant minor-league hitting coordinator.
Packy Elkins will assume more gameday coaching responsibilities, the team announced.
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Photo by AP courtesy of KSDK Sports
