Phillies make addition to major-league staff with new assistant hitting coach

The Phillies made an addition to manager Rob Thomson’s coaching staff for the 2026 season.

Edwar Gonzalez, Philadelphia’s minor-league director of hitting development this year, will serve as assistant hitting coach in the big leagues, the Phillies announced Tuesday. He will replace Dustin Lind, who was hired as hitting coach by the Baltimore Orioles.

Gonzalez is a former minor-league player who has experience in player development and major-league coaching. He spent nine years as a coach in the Yankees organization before joining the Marlins as their minor-league hitting coordinator in 2020. Gonzalez then spent the 2022 season as the major-league assistant hitting coach in Miami on manager Don Mattingly’s staff.

The Phillies hired Gonzalez ahead of the 2023 season as Latin America hitting coordinator and a special advisor to international scouting. He moved up to assistant director of hitting development in 2024 before taking over as the director this past season as Luke Murton became the farm director. Gonzalez will now move into a role with the major-league team under veteran hitting coach Kevin Long.

With Gonzalez now on board as an assistant, the Phillies have just one opening on their major-league staff once again. After moving Mike Calitri to field coordinator, they will hire a new bench coach, preferably one with managerial experience. The Phillies also intend to extend Thomson’s contract, which is set to expire at the end of next season, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said last month, but the team has not yet announced any new deal with their manager.