The St. Louis Cardinals are hiring Cleveland Guardians director of player development Rob Cerfolio to oversee a major overhaul of the club’s minor league system, multiple league sources said The athlete on Tuesday.

Cerfolio joined the Guardians in 2015 after graduating from Yale University. The 32-year-old was named Cleveland’s director of player development ahead of the 2022 season after serving in various roles in both player development and amateur scouting for seven years.

The first task given to general manager Chaim Bloom in his newly expanded role was to hire a new position to take over the Cardinals’ farm system. Bloom will be responsible for driving the Cardinals’ minor league expansion before taking over from top executive John Mozeliak as president of baseball operations in 2026.

With the signing of Cerfolio, the Cardinals believe they have acquired one of baseball’s up-and-coming talents in player development. Cerfolio’s background and development style are similar to those of top executives such as Chicago Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins, Minnesota Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey and Toronto Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins. In his three years with the Guardians, Cerfolio led one of the youngest farm systems in baseball. Three potential Guardians have been named The athleteis Keith Law’s top 100 rankings heading into the 2024 season, including infielder Brayan Rocchio, who emerged as a key player throughout the 2024 season and in Cleveland’s playoff run.

After being hired as a special advisor prior to the 2024 season, Bloom spent the year discussing all minor league levels both in the United States and internationally. When longtime farm director Gary LaRocque announced his retirement near the end of the regular season, Bloom received the green light from ownership to begin the hiring process for a replacement, which Bloom called the crucial first step in modernizing the Cardinals team. outdated minor league system.

“As part of his assessment of last season, (Bloom) developed a plan to improve our player development infrastructure and philosophy,” CEO Bill DeWitt Jr. said during the team’s season-ending press conference in early October.

This plan starts with Cerfolio. While Cerfolio’s official title is currently unclear, Mozeliak indicated earlier this month that the position Bloom recruited would be at the deputy general manager level.

Cerfolio’s hiring is expected to be the first of many this winter at the player development level. Bloom is expected to hire dozens of new employees as part of his multiyear plan to rebuild the Cardinals’ farm system. These roles range from on-site coordinators and mobile staff to staff who help utilize new technologies that St. Louis has not yet implemented.

“It’s going to be really important to prioritize the order in which we do this, of course finding the right leadership first and foremost, getting those people in their positions and getting them set up, and then helping me drive those investments forward,” Bloom said on End of season.

“There are so many opportunities for us to create positive change. … I have some ideas from my own experiences. We’re going to bring new ideas to the organization and really figure out in all areas how we can make this the best it can be.”

— The athlete‘S Zack Meisel contributed to this report.

(Photo: Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images)