ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The St. Louis Cardinals announced Tuesday they have hired Rob Cerfolio as a assistant general manager who will oversee player development and performance.
"We are thrilled to welcome Rob and his family to the Cardinals," said John Mozeliak, Cardinals President of Baseball Operations in a release. "His beliefs on player development and performance are aligned with where we want to go, and he’s been a key leader in an organization whose methods and systems have stayed at the forefront of the industry while still putting people first."
Cerfolio, 32, comes from the Cleveland Guardians organization where he served as the Guardians Director of Player Development from 2022-2024.
Prior to becoming the Guardians Director of Player Development, Cerfolio served a variety of roles in both player development and amateur scouting. Cerfolio joined the Guardians as a baseball operations and player development intern in 2015 after graduating from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in Medicine.
At Yale, Cerfolio pitched three seasons from 2011-2013, and he was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 34th round of the 2013 MLB Draft, but did not sign.
Mozeliak told reporters in a press conference on Tuesday on Zoom that Cerfolio was chosen from a very large candidate pool.
"Bringing in somebody who has experience from Cleveland, which I think is something exciting to tap into," said Mozeliak. "I think he's well rounded."
"Just thinking of his leadership, communication skills and his ability to bring people together is something we found very attractive."
The Cardinals say Cerfolio will now immediately begin a search for a farm director and director of performance to join the organization.
Mozeliak told reporters that with the hiring of Cerfolio, the Cardinals will like to see the player development and scouting departments running more parallel with each other.
"I think ultimately it never got to the point where we felt like it was running at 100% in terms of collaboration, so ultimately we are changing and creating a structure that will almost mandate that will be very helpful," said Mozeliak.
Cerfolio was one of the first moves the Cardinals made on a busy Tuesday. Alongside hiring Cerfolio, the Cardinals also announced that Jon Jay would be joining the Cardinals coaching staff and Brant Brown will also join as the Cardinals hitting coach.
In addition to the hiring of Cerfolio, the Cardinals also announced that Matt Bayer has been promoted to senior director of baseball development, Kevin Seats has become senior director of analytics, DC MacLea has been named manager of video technology, and Brady Hall was promoted to player development, video and tech coordinator.