Mike Shildt Named New Redbirds Manager
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that Mike Shildt (pronounced like quilt) will serve as the Memphis Redbirds' new manager for the 2015 season.
The 46-year-old Shildt becomes the sixth manager in Redbirds' 18-year franchise history and takes over for Ron "Pop" Warner, who was named a minor league roving infield coordinator with the Cardinals organization.
Pitching coach and former Redbird Bryan Eversgerd, hitting coach Mark Budaska, and athletic trainer Jeremy Clipperton are all returning to Memphis.
The 2015 campaign will mark Shildt's 12th season in the Cardinals organization and seventh as a minor league skipper. He carries an overall 333-284 career record (.540 winning percentage) over his previous six managerial seasons with three league championships in three postseason appearances.
Prior to joining the Redbirds, Shildt managed the past three seasons at Double-A Springfield, finishing with an overall 209-207 record. In his first year at the helm in Springfield in 2012, Shildt guided Springfield to its first Texas League Championship before being recognized as Baseball America's Team of the Year.
The Charlotte, North Carolina native began his managerial career with the Johnson City Cardinals of the Rookie-level Appalachian League in 2009. He amassed a .617 winning percentage by going 124-77 in his three year stint as the skipper and guided the club to back-to-back league championships in 2010-11.
He earned the George Kissell Award in 2010 after his success at Johnson City as well as serving as the Cardinals Minor League Spring Training Coordinator, a position held from 2010-12. In 2013, Shildt managed the Salt River Rafters of the prospect-laden Arizona Fall League.
Shildt began four seasons from 2004-07 serving as an area scout and player development instructor before transiting to coach for the Cardinals' short-season teams. He served first as a New Jersey hitting coach from 2004-05, State College bench coach in 2006, and Batavia position coach in 2007. He later served as hitting coach at Johnson City in 2008.
Prior to joining the Cardinals organization in 2004, Shildt worked three years as an associate scout for the Major League Scouting Bureau. He has five years of collegiate coaching under his belt split between stops at the University of North Carolina Charlotte and UNC Asheville. He previously owned and operated On Deck Baseball Academy in Pineville, N.C., training many major and minor league players for four years.