ST. LOUIS, MO., January 21, 2026 – The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that Cardinals great and two-time World Series Champion Yadier Molina is re-joining the team as a Special Assistant to President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom.
“We are happy to welcome Yadi back to the Cardinals organization,” stated Bloom. “He is an elite competitor, a consistent winner, and one of the greatest ever at his position, and we look forward to many contributions during his visits with us in this new role, both in and out of uniform. Yadi will provide input on our catching program, will advise our staff on catching and game planning strategy, and will give me and our front office valuable perspective from his unique vantage point. Perhaps most important, he will help us nurture in our players the high standards, attention to detail, and championship mindset that are so critical to winning.”
Molina, 43, anchored the Cardinals’ 2006 and 2011 World Championship teams, plus the 2004 and 2013 National League pennant winners. He batted .328 (22-for-67) in 21 Fall Classic games and is the franchise career leader in postseason games (104) and hits (102). Over the course of Molina’s career, the Cardinals played merely 24 of a possible 2,921 games when they were mathematically eliminated from postseason contention.
Molina is the lone player in baseball history to catch 2,000 or more career games for one team, and his 2,184 games caught rank fourth overall. Both his 2,112 starts and 1,234 wins in games caught are second most behind Ivan Rodriguez (2,346 and 1,254), while his .99490 fielding percentage is fractionally second to A.J. Pierzynski (.99496). Molina is the all-time leader in total chances (16,267) and putouts (15,122) among catchers, and he ranks ninth with a 40.27 caught stealing percentage. He won nine Gold Gloves – third most among catchers behind Rodriguez (13) and Johnny Bench (10) – and four Platinum Gloves. Among Cardinals, only Ozzie Smith has earned more Gold Gloves (11), while Bob Gibson also won nine.
A 10-time National League All-Star and Cardinals fan-favorite, “Yadi” was selected in the fourth round of the 2000 MLB Draft and played all 19 of his Major League seasons in St. Louis from 2004-22, second in franchise longevity only to Stan Musial (22 seasons). The right-handed swinging Molina is one of five Cardinals with 2,000 hits and 1,000 RBI – joining Musial, Rogers Hornsby, Albert Pujols and Enos Slaughter – and slashed .277/.327/.399 for his career.
Molina and his long-time friend and teammate Adam Wainwright set all-time MLB batterymate records for career starts (328) and team wins in starts (213).
In 2015, Molina received the Darryl Kile Award, presented by the St. Louis chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of American to a Cardinals player, by vote of his teammates, who demonstrates the qualities that Kile brought to the clubhouse: those of a good teammate, a great friend, a fine father and a humble man.
Molina received the prestigious Robeto Clemente Award in 2018 for his relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Maria in his native Puerto Rico. He played for the Puerto Rican team in four World Baseball Classics (2006, 2009, 2013 and 2017) and served as manager in 2023 with plans to do so again this year.
Molina managed the Criollos de Caguas to the both the 2023 and 2024 Roberto Clemente League title in Puerto Pico and guided the team to the 2024 Caribbean Series. Yadi also managed Navegantes del Magallanes of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League to the playoffs in 2022. He returned to the team in 2025 and was recently awarded VPBL Manager of the Year honors.