Phillies to hire new bench coach under manager Rob Thomson, retain all coaches on big-league staff

PHILADELPHIA — In the aftermath of yet another early postseason exit, the Phillies will retain all members of their major-league coaching staff, with one extra wrinkle: A new bench coach will be hired to serve under manager Rob Thomson next season.

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski announced at an end-of-season news conference on Thursday at Citizens Bank Park that the club will have Mike Calitri transition from bench coach to major-league field coordinator, opening an additional coaching spot in 2026. The team will search for an external candidate to fill the role.

“We’ll look outside the organization to add a major-league bench coach to assist us and assist Topper in a different fashion of different things,” Dombrowski said. “But everybody else is coming back.”

Calitri had served as Thomson’s bench coach since the Phillies fired Joe Girardi and elevated Thomson to manager during the 2022 season. Calitri will continue to have many of the same responsibilities despite the different title, including the organization of spring training and the planning of advance meetings. The Phillies hope that bringing in one more coach can only provide more insight.

“What we’re really doing is adding a guy, another set of eyes, maybe new perspective, different perspective on our club, new ideas,” Thomson said. “But I’m still going to be utilizing everyone on that bench, including Mike, for information during the game. So I just think it adds, hopefully, an experienced guy that is just a different perspective, and it makes us a little bit better.”

Adding a coach was Dombrowski’s suggestion, and the veteran executive first broached the subject with Thomson last offseason. The manager said he did not believe the decision was made in response to Philadelphia’s loss to the Dodgers in the National League Division Series or any moves he made in the playoffs. The Phillies will try to identify an ideal fit to pair with Thomson this winter.

“Managers use bench coaches in different fashions during a game, but I think it would be ideal to have somebody that maybe has had some managerial experience or that type of role,” Dombrowski said. “But we’ll see when we get down to it.”

Thomson said he will be “very involved” in the process of determining who will take over as bench coach. The manager is currently under contract through 2026, but Dombrowski said that the Phillies will pursue an extension with him for another year. Dombrowski said last October that he prefers to not enter a season with a lame-duck manager.

The executive also noted that he didn’t feel it was appropriate to pin the NLDS failures on any member of the coaching staff. Dombrowski felt that Philadelphia’s offense made strides under hitting coach Kevin Long and his assistants this year and that the club just faced up against elite Dodgers pitching. Phillies pitchers largely had a successful season under pitching coach Caleb Cotham and his assistants.

So instead of firing any coaches, the team will aim to supplement the group.

“The staff is so good,” Thomson said. “We’re just trying to add one more guy to make it even a little bit better.”