JUPITER, Fla. – Whoever makes up the Grapefruit League schedule inadvertently set Mike Shildt’s anniversary date until death does them part.
The St. Louis Cardinals manager, a lifetime bachelor until Friday, will exchange vows at a Florida beach resort with his partner Michelle Segrave. While longtime Cardinals minor-league coach Mark DeJohn is one of the two best men at the nuptials (the other is childhood friend Marc Rosenbalm), Shildt did not invite a single Cardinals player.
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Consider that Shildt’s wedding gift to the team. Perhaps they could reciprocate with the ultimate wedding gift: a World Series title? Shildt made a point of not inviting any of the 70-odd players in camp, because he wanted them to be able to relax on their off-day rather than squeeze into a suit and socialize with coaches and club management, whom they spend plenty of time around already.
“These guys know I love them, but one of the ways you show love is not to make them think on their day off they’ve got to go to their manager’s wedding,” Shildt said.
Most Cardinals players arrived here well before the mandatory report dates in mid-February, and Friday was the team’s first day off this spring. The other is on March 17.
Shildt, 51, decided to tie the knot after a whirlwind romance with Segrave, whom he met after becoming manager midway through the 2018 season. Shildt has said that being single late into middle age helped him advance, methodically, from his beginnings coaching high school baseball in Charlotte to being National League Manager of the Year last season.
One of the few men to manage in the major leagues without having played professional baseball, Shildt worked his way up from scouting and part-time coaching in the New York-Penn League with the Cardinals starting 16 years ago. He had stops in Johnson City (Tennessee), Springfield (Missouri) and Memphis, among many others.
Many baseball players get married young, making for quite a contrast in this Cardinals camp. Pitcher Dakota Hudson, for example, is 25, married and already has two children. I never thought I’d do this, but I asked veteran Adam Wainwright if he had any marriage advice for his manager.
“What a question,” Wainwright said. “Yeah, but we’ll leave that between us. We have had a marriage talk before, yeah. I mean, he’s got to listen to his elders, you know?”
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Wainwright, 38, said he’s still shopping for a wedding gift. He said the players appreciate being given a full day to unwind. Wainwright is married with five children.
“Spring training is a very fun time of the year anyway,” he said. “But when you have a full day with the weather we have here and the pretty beaches we have here, it’s really great to get the family out there and spend some time with them.”
Kim’s concern
New Cardinals pitcher Kwang-Hyun Kim has had a strong spring training. He has yet to allow a run in five Grapefruit League innings, in which he has struck out seven batters and allowed only four baserunners. He appears to be a leading candidate to nail down a spot in the Cardinals’ rotation.
First strikeout for Cardinals P Kim Kwang-hyun vs Marlins Brian Anderson. Threw a scoreless first inning. pic.twitter.com/uk7RVy2CSt
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) February 26, 2020
He has done so with a lot on his mind. Kim said his wife and two young children remain home in South Korea, where confirmed coronavirus cases have already exceeded 6,000. By contrast, according to the Centers for Disease Control website Friday morning, 99 cases had been confirmed in the U.S. The new COVID-19 strain of coronavirus started in Wuhan, China, which is roughly 500 miles across the East China Sea from Kim’s home in Incheon, South Korea. Kim’s homeland has seen more confirmed cases than any country other than China.
“I’m worried about the country and also my family,” Kim said through an interpreter.
The Korean Baseball Organization, where Kim spent his entire career before signing a two-year, $8 million deal with the Cardinals in December, decided to cancel its 10-game exhibition season due to the outbreak. One Korean team, the Kia Tigers, opted to extend its spring training in Florida rather than return to the country and face the threat of the virus.
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Camp takeaways
• The Cardinals won’t announce their Opening Day roster for another two and a half weeks, but one of the youngest players in camp is making a hard push for inclusion. Top prospect Dylan Carlson, 21, leads all of MLB spring training in batting average (.417), runs (10) and OPS (1.158) among players with the qualifying number of plate appearances. The team still has 16 more exhibition games, but Carlson has done exactly what the team was hoping he would: make them think long and hard about where he begins the 2020 season.
• One of the puzzling aspects this spring has been the relative lack of audition time for outfielder Justin Williams, who has gotten just 21 at-bats. Williams was billed as being in competition to win an outfield spot, and his left-handed power would make him seem like a natural fit in a crowd of right-handed-hitting outfielders. The team was not thrilled with his conditioning coming off 31 games in the Mexican Winter League, sources indicate. Williams has just two hits, but both are home runs.
• Shortstop Paul DeJong is off to a blistering start, with four home runs and a double in just 18 at-bats. He credits a simpler approach and an “in-the-present” mentality that he plans on carrying throughout the season.
“A great start in spring still doesn’t mean anything for me today,” DeJong said.
(Photo of Shildt: Michael Reaves/Getty Images)