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The bench coach the Cardinals had for a season before he got a chance to run a dugout of his own and the former star the Cardinals sought to replace him have been lured onto the coaching staff of Team USA for the upcoming World Baseball Classic.

Skip Schumaker, now with the Rangers, will be the bench coach for Team USA and Cardinals Hall of Famer Matt Holliday will serve as hitting coach.

Former Cardinals infielder Mark DeRosa, who is returning to manage Team USA in the WBC, announced his staff on MLB Network on Friday morning. He wooed his former Cardinals teammates onto the staff that also includes former Cubs manager David Ross and former Yankees and Astros lefty Andy Pettitte. Texas Rangers great Michael Young also returns to the coaching staff in an assistant role.

"I could not wait to get back and put the USA jersey on again," Schumaker said during an interview on the network. "I wasn't sure that would ever happen."

Schumaker and DeRosa were teammates on the Cardinals in 2009 when the club traded for Holliday. They texted back and forth as the deal came together, and DeRosa, acquired a month earlier via trade, joked that he was "the appetizer." 

After two seasons and one NL Manager of the Year award in Miami with the Marlins, Schumaker left that role at the end of the 2024 season and accepted a job in Texas' front office.

Holliday was named as Schumaker's replacement at bench coach for the 2023 season, but as spring training approached and his eldest son, Jackson, became a possible No. 1 overall pick in the draft, Holliday declined the bench coach job with the Cardinals. His son was taken first overall and is now an infielder with the Baltimore Orioles, and his son, Ethan, is now a potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 draft.Ìý

Since his retirement, Holliday has served as a trusted hitting advisor for teammates, welcoming them to his facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma, to discuss approach and swings. Cardinals such as Matt Carpenter and Nolan Arenado have visited with Holliday in Stillwater to hit with the former batting champion. Holliday has also worked with Cody Bellinger, and he does some consultant work on hitting for his agent Scott Boras.Ìý

The 2026 World Baseball Classic will take place during spring training next year.

DeRosa's Team USA, which featured Cardinals Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt at the infield corners, finished second in the tournament in 2023. Japan's Samurai national team, with Lars Nootbaar in center, won the championship, with the final game ending on a showdown between Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout.