Cardinals Manager Calls Out Outfielder’s ‘Unacceptable’ Effort After He Was Thrown Out at Home

The 2023 MLB season may be just five games old for the Cardinals, but already manager Oliver Marmol wasn’t afraid to call out the effort of one of his players.

After a 4–1 home loss to the Braves on Tuesday night, Marmol took exception with the effort put forth by Tyler O’Neill on a key play in the seventh inning. With two outs and St. Louis already trailing by three runs, O’Neill attempted to score from second base on Brendan Donovan’s base hit to right field, but Ronald Acuña Jr. nailed him with a perfect throw to home plate.

Marmol said he addressed the play with O’Neill personally during the game before later publicly calling the outfielder’s effort “unacceptable.”

“That’s not our style of play as far as the effort, rounding the bag there,” Marmol said during his postgame press conference. “It’s unacceptable.”

Here’s a closer look at the play in question from two different angles.

Ronald Acuña Jr. is trying to tell the Cardinals not to run on him.

The Cardinals are not listening.

With his second outfield assist of the night, Acuña saved a run. pic.twitter.com/oj8uekfFlb

— Justin Toscano (@JustinCToscano) April 5, 2023

A lot of Twitter chatter about O’Neill being thrown out in the 7th. Here’s the high home view so you can see the entire play.#STLCards pic.twitter.com/IiuMTc2uzP

— Matt Pauley (@MattPauleyOnAir) April 5, 2023

O’Neill, who played in just 96 games last season due to multiple hamstring injuries, acknowledged that he had a conversation with Marmol about the play but disagreed with the notion that he wasn’t putting forth maximum effort. 

“He didn’t think I gave the best effort,” O’Neill said to reporters. “I’m out here every day grinding my ass off, giving it my all and trying to stay on the field for 160 games out here.

“Like I said, I just got to get a better jump next time and I guess just get around the base a little quicker and be in there next time.”

“I’m trying to score that run of course,” O’Neill added. “Not out there to dog it at all. Those are pretty strong words from [Marmol], so that’s good to know.”