By Chris Brown / STL Baseball Today | @cbrown_STLBBT | Nov. 20, 2015, 9:51 pm CT
After 11 years with the redbirds and 24 total in the game of baseball, Greg Hauck has resigned as the Cardinals head athletic trainer, a position he held for the last five seasons, general manager John Mozeliak told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Friday.
Citing “the wear and tear of travel” and the desire to spend more time with his family, Hauck, 49, will step away after spending six years as an assistant with the Cardinals before serving as head trainer for the last five.
“I had great years with the Cardinals but after 24 years in baseball, 13 with the (Oakland) A’s and 11 with the Cardinals … I was missing a lot with my family and my kids,” Hauck told the Post-Dispatch. “I was at a point where it was a time for me to make a change, to be a dad who’s at home.”
While the Cardinals were plagued by numerous injuries in 2015, including Matt Holliday’s reoccurring quad strain, Mozeliak said Hauck’s decision to leave was “not a decision that was based on this past year.”
The high volume of injuries “is not something you can answer in a vacuum,” Mozeliak said. “Some were acute. Some were over time in terms of how you manage them and how you try to get players back. I feel, as a medical staff, they gave us good advice.”
“Certainly, the players have to take some ownership in (the injury area) as well as the medical team.”
The Cardinals GM shared that assistant trainer Chris Conroy and assistant trainer/physical therapist Adam Olsen will remain with the team, and that the search for Hauck’s replacement will extend both internally and externally.
As for Hauck, Mozeliak said the team is very appreciative of his years with them.
“Overall, he enjoyed the experience. And the Cardinals are grateful for everything he did for us.”
Read more from Rick Hummel’s report in the St. Louis Post Dispatch/STLToday.com.
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Feature image via the St. Louis Cardinals on Twitter.
