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They鈥檝e been clear that they鈥檙e not reinventing player development. Instead, they鈥檝e stressed honoring the history, tradition and staying true to the things that have long been strengths of the Cardinals organization and yielded decades of success molding big-league ballplayers.

Here鈥檚 the thing. Some of us have been afflicted with a naturally skeptical (perhaps cynical) disposition.聽

Sometimes it's like that thing you get with teenagers. If a parent tells them something, they can't possibly take it at face value. Another person tells them the same thing, and it's two steps from being gospel.

Bloom and Cerfolio are parental figures in this case, and the talk about melding the past with a more modern approach triggers suspicion.

After all, they've said the things people in their positions are supposed to say. That doesn't mean it will hold true. The same goes for manager Oli Mamol and his staff. They've also had a hand in the player development revamp.

Ah, but the Major League Baseball schedule provided a remedy in the form of a baseball man no longer tied to the organization but that was shaped by the principles of The Cardinal Way.

His name is Mike Shildt. He鈥檚 the current manager of the San Diego Padres, who came to Busch Stadium this weekend for a four-game series, and he's the former manager of the Cardinals and former longtime member of the organization鈥檚 player development staff.

鈥淚 was raised in this organization by some of the best baseball minds, not even arguably, in the history of the game,鈥� Shildt said while seated in the visiting dugout prior to Thursday's series opener. 鈥淚t starts with Mr. Kissell聽鈥斅燝eorge Kissell聽鈥� here 66 years, and the guy that was his right-hand man and, ultimately, my mentor. A gentleman named Mark DeJohn, who was the field coordinator for a very long time.

鈥淕ary LaRocque, the farm director, was instrumental in helping develop me. Then you had Hall of Fame managers that were able to pour into me. Tony (La Russa) at the time was the manager, and you had Whitey (Herzog) that was really good to me. Red (Schoendienst) was fantastic. Mr. (Joe) Torre wasn鈥檛 here, but he clearly was a Cardinal and was really good to me.鈥�

Many of you know the background, but a quick recap of the Shildt Cardinals tenure:

He joined the organization in 2004 as an area scout, then held various roles in player development (including eight seasons as a manager) before he joined the big-league staff in 2017. He became interim manager after Mike Matheny鈥檚 firing in July 2018, and Shildt became the full-time manager in August 2018. The Cardinals were a playoff team in each of his first three full seasons as manager (2019-2021), but 鈥減hilosophical differences鈥� between Shildt and John Mozeliak led to Shildt鈥檚 ouster following the 2021 season.

When Shildt surfaced with the Padres, his first role came as a player development consultant in 2022.

So there might not be many people better suited than Shildt to give an honest insiders assessment of whether The Cardinal Way translates to modern player development as the game continues to change with technology, data and new teaching methods.

So, does The Cardinal Way have to evolve into something new? Or is it still the foundation upon which future generations should be constructed?

Both, as it turns out.

Shildt referenced an anecdote from a player development meeting during Kissell鈥檚 final season in the organization.

鈥淚 was a part of more of the leadership of it and he was retiring at 88, and I said, 鈥榊ou know, Mr. Kissell we鈥檙e not going to change a thing,鈥欌�� Shildt recalled.

鈥淚 said it in front of the group, and he appreciated that. But then right after the meeting he came right up to me and he said, 鈥楲et me tell you something. If you don鈥檛 think it changed in the last 66 years, you鈥檙e kidding yourself!鈥欌��

So let鈥檚 get this straight. One of the many lasting messages from a patron saint of Cardinals baseball, George Kissell, that still sticks in Shildt鈥檚 brain is that The Cardinal Way was always meant to change.

鈥淪o it was all about being able to stay relevant and adapt,鈥� Shildt said. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 the sweet spot of all the things聽鈥� the tools that are at the fingertips in player development now 鈥� that are very, very healthy.

鈥淏ut I do think, with a lot of confidence, there鈥檚 also a blend of competition to what that looks like. The mental, physical competition, the toughness it required to play this game and the baseball intellect that takes place every night.鈥�

Shildt did not say the fundamentals, attention to detail and fine nuances of the game have become any less important. He didn鈥檛 say it鈥檚 OK to hand everything over to analytics and computers. He didn't say replace baseball IQ with ChatGPT.

He expressed "confidence" that there鈥檚 a way to bring together the aspects of the game that can鈥檛 be measured with fancy machinery and combine them with those aspects that a human eye can鈥檛 accurately or reliably measure.

鈥淭he one thing about this game that just will not change聽鈥� first of all, it鈥檚 played by humans and there鈥檚 a human element to it,鈥� Shildt said. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 very situational based. Almost regardless of era, you look up and you realize that the teams that play clean and the teams that mitigate walks and free bases, the teams that put the ball in play and execute with runners in scoring position typically win games.

鈥淚鈥檓 confident that鈥檚 not going to change because it hasn鈥檛 in the last 160 years.鈥�

So maybe聽鈥� just maybe聽鈥� these new dudes with the Ivy League degrees are onto something.