Hitting Coach
Ward enters his first season in the Cardinals organization, joining the team in November of 2021 as Assistant Hitting Coach. He previously served as a Major League hitting coach for Cincinnati (2019), Los Angeles Dodgers (2016-18) and the Arizona Diamondbacks (2014-15) and he was the Assistant Hitting Coach for Arizona in 2013. Ward, who turned 57 on April 11, played 12 seasons in the majors from 1990-2001 before transitioning into coaching. Drafted by the Yankees (18th round) in 1986 as an outfielder out of the University of South Alabama, the switch-hitting Ward played for the Indians (1990-91), Blue Jays (1991-1993), Brewers (1994-96), Pirates (1997-99), Diamondbacks (1999-2000) and Phillies (2001). He spent eight years coaching in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization, serving as Hitting Coach at Class AA Mobile (2008-10), Manager at Mobile (2011- 12), Assistant Hitting coach for Arizona (2013) and Hitting Coach for Arizona (2014-15). The Alabama native was the Hitting Coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2016-18, which included consecutive trips to the World Series in 2017 and 2018. Ward then joined the Cincinnati Reds as hitting coach in 2019. He also managed in the minors in 2006 with the Gulf Coast League Pirates and in 2007 with the State College Spikes of the New York-Penn League (A). Ward's Mobile teams won consecutive Southern League championships in 2011 and 2012, and he was named Southern League Manager of the Year in 2011 as Mobile was voted Minor League Team of the Year by Baseball America. Ward in 2012 was a coach for the World Team at the All-Star Futures Game at Kansas City and managed in the Southern League All-Star Game. Ward played for the Toronto Blue Jays' World Series championship teams in 1992 and 1993 and he hit a pinch-hit, two-run HR in Game 3 of the 1999 NL Division Series for Arizona against the New York Mets. He was playing RF for the Pirates vs the Dodgers on 5/3/98 at Three Rivers Stadium when the momentum of his leaping catch of Mike Piazza's fly ball carried him through the outfield wall. Ward graduated from Satsuma (AL) High School and attended the University of South Alabama in Mobile, where he was a teammate of 19-year veteran Major Leaguer Luis Gonzalez, and Faulkner State (Ala.) Junior College. In 2016 earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix. Turner and his wife, Donna, have three children; Tucker, Olin and Kendall. His son Tucker, a right-handed pitcher, was selected out of Louisiana Tech University by the Diamondbacks in the 40th round of the 2105 amateur draft and spent three seasons in the Arizona organization.