JUPITER, Fla. — When the St. Louis Cardinals decided to emphasize player development — including in the major leagues — they knew hiring the right staff would be critical.

Developing players in the major leagues used to be taboo. Now it’s a common practice, with players ascending through the minor leagues quicker than ever and arriving on the raw side. The game has changed, and with it, so have the responsibilities of a major-league coaching staff.

It’s here where the Cardinals feel they have a strength.

This year’s St. Louis coaching staff features prominent player development experience. It starts with manager Oli Marmol, who spent five years managing the lower levels of the Cardinals farm system before joining the big-league staff in 2017. First-base coach Stubby Clapp has more than a decade of experience coaching in the minor leagues — including two seasons managing the Memphis Redbirds (AAA) in 2017 and 2018. Third-base coach Pop Warner has been with the organization since 2000 and has managed at all four minor-league affiliate levels.

But there is also something to be said about having experience as a player. That’s where coaches Daniel Descalso and Jon Jay come in.

After finding early success in their careers as homegrown Cardinals, Jay and Descalso have reunited in St. Louis as coaches to help guide the next crop of Cardinals. Descalso and Jay were role players off the bench in 2011, their second major league season, and were instrumental in the Cardinals’ World Series championship run. St. Louis has not won the World Series since. With the Cardinals reverting to their prior focus of drafting and developing — the defining trait for the club when Jay and Descalso were coming through the system — the hope is that the two coaches can reflect on their successes as players and help re-instill a winning culture.

“It’s an honor to be asked to come back, right?,” Descalso, 38, said. “That means when we were here, we did something right. For them to trust us to come back and be on the staff, and particularly for where we are as an organization, where we’ve been those young players who are counted upon to develop and produce, to be able to share how our experiences went and be a resource for these guys, is nice to be back and to be challenged with an important task going.”

“This is where, we came up,” Jay, 40, added. “This is what set the foundation for our careers. Coming back here, it’s refreshing. We also know what it’s like to be in those guys’ positions, right? We know what baseball means to the city of St. Louis. We know what it takes to play in the major leagues. Now, I think that’s something that in our role as coaches, we try to help with the players. There are so many different things that are going on every day, so we’re just trying to be that voice that has been there and done it — especially in this organization.”

Reunited and it feels so good.

The Cardinals added Descalso as the bench coach ahead of the 2024 season, his first major-league coaching job. After long-time coach Willie McGee stepped down in October, Jay — who had spent two seasons as the Miami Marlins first-base coach under former Cardinal Skip Schumaker — was immediately swooped up by St. Louis. The two have been close friends since their playing days and bring a sense of relatability to the players.

“It’s instant buy-in,” Marmol said. “When you have guys that are as relatable and are as passionate about pouring into young guys as Jay and Descalso … it’s allowed us to expedite this development process. Homegrown guys like Jay and Scals, you put your staff together the same way you put a roster together. You want to be able to fill certain gaps and what those two bring to the table — being able to speak to what it looks like to win here — is important.

“They’ve done a nice job of instilling those values, even in their short time here.”

Player buy-in during a transition year is crucial. While the Cardinals are not rebuilding, and still intend to compete in the National League Central, they are willing to sacrifice some of their competitive edge to ensure playing time for several young players. This isn’t always a popular message to enter a season with, especially with a considerable number of veterans on the roster.

But Willson Contreras, who played with both Descalso and Jay during their separate stints with the Chicago Cubs, is one of many of the club’s vets who praised the way Marmol and his coaches have run camp this spring. He also believes having Jay and Descalso on staff will help across the board.

“J.J. was one of those teammates that keeps you on your toes,” Contreras said. “He kept everybody accountable, which I like. He helped a lot of my teammates and me to stay focused on the game and let the distractions outside of baseball disappear. I love the way Jay managed himself as a player, and I knew he was going to be a good coach. Same with Descalso, he was a bit quieter than Jay but always super professional.”

“It’s good to have them here,” he continued. “They were homegrown talent here, they played here, they won a World Series here. So they know what it takes, and they know the system that has been here for a long time. Having those two, I think is good for us.”

Players gravitate toward Jay and Descalso, not just because of their relatability, but also because they understand the modernization of the game. Both ended their playing careers not long ago; Descalso’s last season was in 2019 and Jay retired in 2021. As products of the organization, they also value the longstanding tradition and history of Cardinals baseball. The appreciation of both sides of the game has allowed their message to resonate with players like Brendan Donovan.

“There’s a sense of calmness with both of them,” Donovan said. “When you talk to them, it’s always light, which is important, because this is a stressful atmosphere, right? But also, knowledge and experience is something that you don’t realize until you see it firsthand. There are situations that come up and they spark conversation. They get your instinctive juices going. These are people who have been around, who have done it, who have won, so I’ve been picking their brains on a daily basis.

“I’m not the type of person where you have to have played for me to (buy in). You can take something from everyone. But these guys, they wore these colors and they gave the fan base what we’re trying to give them, which is obviously success in the postseason.”

The responsibility of molding the next wave of talent is not one either coach takes lightly. Drawing on their playing experiences during the early 2010s — when the Cardinals made the postseason five straight seasons from 2011-2015 — allows them to effectively communicate what successful baseball looks like in the big leagues, both in preparation and execution.

“When we were coming up, we had a group of veteran players in that clubhouse who knew what it took to win,” Descalso said. “Your job was to step in and not miss a beat. We had a very young bench when we were on that team in ’11, and no one had really done that. No one had really won that way before. Our job was to prove that we weren’t just rookies that were glad to be here. We knew how to execute in certain situations, we knew when there was a big moment you could count on us to go out there and be prepared.

“We may not get the job done all the time, but we’re going to have a good at-bat. We’re going to know what to do defensively. We’re not going to scare in the big moment. I think through those experiences, we can provide some help to these guys as they look to establish themselves.”

These are the experiences Descalso and Jay hope to draw upon as teaching moments for this year’s roster.

“As a young player, the task is two-fold,” Descalso said. “Individually, you’re trying to establish yourself, find a way to be a big leaguer and what that looks like — what your routine looks like, what you do well, what you don’t do well. But you’re also trying to show the veteran players, the coaching staff that you know how to win. Ultimately, that’s what gets you to stick around in this league.

“I think as an industry, guys are getting to the big leagues so much faster. We’re always coaching no matter what the level is, but I think we’re doing as much coaching as we’ve ever done at the major-league level. We need to reinforce things. The message has to be just keep repeating things, keep reinforcing the fundamentals and what it looks like to be an impactful big leaguer.”

The true test for both coaches will be when regular-season games begin. Even with their transition year, the Cardinals face immense pressure to win — a pressure Jay and Descalso know well. And while the responsibility is large, they can take it on together. That’s something neither will take for granted.

“It’s not every day that things line up to get these opportunities to be together again, and it’s awesome,” Jay said. “When you have someone on your side that you can trust and is loyal and respected, that’s huge. I’m the new guy on the staff, but I think we’ve done a pretty good job of establishing that.”