Rob Thomson has a new right-hand man.<\/p>\n
The Phillies announced Monday that they have hired Don Mattingly as their bench coach.<\/p>\n
While the club did not announce the length of Mattingly\u2019s contract, he indicated during his introductory press conference that he views the role as more than a short-term stop.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve committed to a couple of years with [Thomson] and we\u2019ll go from there,\u201d Mattingly said. \u201cI\u2019m assuming that would be it for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The move comes after Philadelphia reshaped its coaching staff shortly after the season, shifting former bench coach Mike Calitri into a newly created field coordinator role. This opening allowed the club to pursue a veteran presence with extensive managerial experience \u2014 something the front office openly prioritized.<\/p>\n
\u201cManagers use bench coaches in different fashions during a game,\u201d president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said during the end-of-season press conference. \u201cI think it would be ideal to have somebody that has had some managerial experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mattingly, 64, fits that description cleanly.<\/p>\n
He brings more than a decade of experience as a Major League manager, leading the Dodgers from 2010\u201315 and the Marlins from 2016\u201322. Across 13 seasons, Mattingly managed 1,827 games and was named the National League Manager of the Year in 2020. He then joined the Blue Jays as bench coach ahead of the 2023 season, spending the past three years in Toronto.<\/p>\n
In Philadelphia, Mattingly\u2019s role will center on supporting Rob Thomson during games \u2014 a responsibility he described as \u201cbeing another set of eyes and ears,\u201d helping stay ahead of situations and easing the decision-making load as games move quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gets busy and fast,\u201d Mattingly said. \u201cYou might be thinking about your pitching, then you\u2019ve got a pinch-hit situation. All those things come fast. My job is to stay ahead a little bit and help lighten the load.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a reunion in several ways.<\/p>\n
Thomson, Mattingly and Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long all overlapped in the Yankees organization. Thomson joined New York\u2019s Major League staff as field coordinator in 2007. Mattingly served as the Yankees\u2019 bench coach that season, while Long was in his first year as the club\u2019s hitting coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of familiarity there,\u201d Thomson said, noting Mattingly\u2019s attention to detail and communication style. \u201cHe\u2019s been there. He\u2019s done it. That matters \u2014 especially for our players.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, Mattingly also joins an organization led in part by his son, Preston, the Phillies\u2019 general manager \u2014 a dynamic Mattingly acknowledged required thought before accepting the role.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was concerned about it right away,\u201d Mattingly said, explaining that maintaining trust inside the clubhouse was essential. \u201cPlayers need to trust that I\u2019m not a voice that\u2019s just running upstairs talking about everything. That\u2019s not how I operate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond the dugout, Mattingly\u2019s playing resum\u00e9 stands on its own. The 1985 American League MVP spent all 14 of his Major League seasons with the Yankees, compiling 2,153 hits, 222 home runs and a .307 career average. He was a six-time All-Star and a nine-time Gold Glove winner.<\/p>\n
Despite 43 years in Major League Baseball as a player and coach, Mattingly has yet to win a World Series. The Phillies \u2014 who have reached the postseason four straight seasons without a championship \u2014 will see if that changes with \u201cDonnie Baseball\u201d now on staff.<\/p>\n
Don Mattingly met with the media Monday. You can watch the full availability below:<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rob Thomson has a new right-hand man. The Phillies announced Monday that they have hired Don Mattingly as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5,16702],"class_list":{"0":"post-508338","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baseball","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-phillies-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115849750438288417","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}