The Philadelphia Phillies continued the offseason overhaul of their coaching staff under manager Don Mattingly by hiring Peter Fatse as the team’s new hitting coach, The Athletic’s Charlotte Varnes reports.
Fatse, 39, replaces Kevin Long, who was fired after the Phillies were eliminated from the MLB playoffs by the Atlanta Braves in the wild-card round. Long had been on the coaching staff since 2022, working under Joe Girardi, Rob Thomson and Mattingly.
Philadelphia ranked 12th in the National League (and 21st in MLB) with a .240 team batting average and 11th in the league (22nd in MLB) in OPS.
Several players also posted some of the worst numbers of their careers, including Trea Turner (.242 average, .675 OPS), J.T. Realmuto (.205, .615) and Alec Bohm (.249, .698). Before suffering a season-ending lat muscle tear, Adolis Garcia was also having a career-worst season with a .195/,270.329 slash line.
Fatse spent most of the past season as a hitting consultant for the Tampa Bay Rays’ research and development group after being fired by the Boston Red Sox when manager Alex Cora was dismissed in late April. He was initially hired as an assistant hitting coach on Cora’s staff before being promoted to hitting coach in 2022.
During Fatse’s four full seasons in that role, the Red Sox finished among MLB’s top 10 in team batting average and OPS.
Fatse is tthe second new addition to Mattingly’s staff, joining former New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza. Mendoza was hired as the third-base coach, replacing the reassigned Anthony Contreras, and infield coach, in place of the fired Bobby Dickerson.
Mattingly was promoted by the Phillies to full-time manager after taking over as interim skipper when Thomson was fired in April. He received a two-year contract from president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.