'He belongs in a Cardinal uniform' Cardinals Manager Oli Marmol discusses INF Thomas Saggese making MLB Debut

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Tuesday night at Busch Stadium was a big night for St. Louis Cardinals infield prospect Thomas Saggese, as he finally got a chance to achieve his dream on playing in the major leagues.

Saggese made his MLB debut Tuesday night against the Cincinnati Reds, batting seventh in the lineup and starting the game at shortstop. Saggese had a quiet night on his debut, got hitless in four at bats and striking out twice, including during a bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the ninth with one out.

"You want Jordan Walker coming up in that spot, you want Saggese to come up on that spot," said Cardinals Manager Oli Marmol on 'Total Information A.M.'
"Those are big moments for those guys and they are going to get some playing time and you want the game on the line and you want to evaluate how they take those at bats and how they respond to when it doesn't go their way and when it does."

"That's the exact situation you want for those guys because they are going to learn from it and there's time where it will come through and it will be big moments for them and there's time when it won't and it's going to be good learning moments for them. But I wouldn't have changed a thing about who came up in that situation."

Marmol discussed the hours leading up to the game for Saggese, with Marmol revealing both of them had a conversation in his office before the game and Saggese was nervous leading up to first pitch.

Marmol gave high praise to Saggese and told KMOX Sports Director Tom Ackerman he was a player who was impressed him during Spring Training this year.

"He's a good player man, I really enjoyed watching Saggese in Spring Training," said Marmol. "Just the way he goes about it, he's a ballplayer. He's gritty, he belongs in a Cardinal uniform."

"He goes about it the right way, gives you a tough at-bat. Kind of a line drive guy, gap to gap, and he will play multiple positions."