Phillies Front Office Changes

[zambonir]

And Bonifay was even more of an Astros guy.

[fish]

I honestly don't know or remember but weren't they just preaching the same launch angle stuff as everyone else (which they certainly didn't invent)?

They got the Phillies up to speed with all the modern technology out there, but it was the same old problem of not being able to implement that data to improve results.

[andyb]

They got the Phillies up to speed with all the modern technology out there, but it was the same old problem of not being able to implement that data to improve results.

There were also some indications that they wanted to change players to a cookie cutter approach. I know Matt Winkleman has written a lot about ground ball rates in the minors that increased under the old regime.

Good coaches tailor the data to each player individually. We can't teach every player to have great bat speed even if we can shorten swings to improve it. We can't teach every player to have a great command of the strike zone. Everybody can't be a power hitter now that they have backed off a bit on the lively ball.

I think one of Kevin Long's strengths is figuring out what each individual needs. Clearly this has not been a minor league strength, however. They seem to rearrange the deck chairs every few years though, so news of each minor league systemic change needs to be taken with a grain of salt until we see results.

[Matt_Winkelman]

Jumping in to say that is a misattribution of the problem. This isn't absolving the Ochart led hitting dev from its faults, but the hit the ball on the ground problem was a problem brought on by the major league hitting coach Joe Dillon, especially in 2021 when AAA was in the major league coaches bubble and not the minor league instruction. The Nationals have since re-hired Dillon and currently might be the worst player dev team in baseball and have actively talked about having players hitting the ball on the ground more.

I will say the Ochart led dev was not a cookie cutter approach, nor was it an uppercut launch angle driven approach. I think generally the philosophies are about what you would expect from modern hitting coaching. There is a massive gap between that and getting players to that point. I also think the Phillies lack of overall direction and high level leadership led to some major infighting and ultimately poisoned that well a lot.

[Austinfan]

Isn't Dillon a disciple of the current Phillies hitting coach? So why the huge divergence in approach?

And wasn't it a priority last year to ensure that the same message is given to players at every level of the organization?
What did they do to implement that approach? Fire the sour apples? Did they put someone in charge of ensuring that there is a consistent approach across the minor league system?

[Matt_Winkelman]

I have no idea on why Dillon is not like Long, but it is clear the student was not the teacher.

It was a priority to give the message all the way down last year, and I think you definitely saw some of that pay off in the upper levels with the guys who contributed to the majors and flashes from Marchan and Muzziotti. I also did not really hear clashes between Long and the minor league guys, actually that it worked quite well. They also did some major overhauls in the Dominican Complex before last year that we will see if it will pay off as they bring some of those guys stateside. Domestically as Gelb detailed they took things to a next level of structure with their guys and that led to an overall change in leadership.

[xogfog]

Phillies extend GM Fuld through 2025 season

[Philsmania]

I got to wonder what Fuld really does. Dombrowski is clearly the guy who runs things.

[zambonir]

Only the big ticket stuff. I think Fuld's done a lot, especially in terms of development and analytics (despite him also being part of the failed team under Kapler). It's a hierarchy like anything else (and also the hierarchy most teams have these days). CEO and COO, really. Dombrowski's not talking to Mattingly or the major league coaching staff or Sal regularly. Fuld and the other assistants do that. (Barber reports directly to Dombrowski but Sal reports to Velandia, for instance).