After a 100-win Cardinals season in 2015, the team announced the entire coaching staff would return intact for the 2016 season. Those announced intentions did not actually come to pass as third base coach Jose Oquendo missed the 2016 season due to knee surgery. Oquendo then spent the 2017 season in Jupiter, tutoring young players. After a difficult season in the big leagues with a second straight year of defensive lapses and poor baserunning, Jose Oquendo is returning to the big league Cardinals as third base coach, the Cardinals announced on Twitter.
The Cardinals also announced that Mike Shildt—who began last season as the quality control coach but was moved to third base coach when the team relieved Chris Maloney of his duties—will be moved to bench coach.