Just hours after Don Mattingly had the “interim” tag removed from his title the Phillies made some moves on his coaching staff. Hitting coach Kevin Long and infield coach Bobby Dickerson were fired and it was announced that Anthony Contreras would be reassigned to a different position.
Long’s name was a constant when it came to placing blame for a struggling Phillies offense. Early in his tenure with the team Long was seen as a guru after serving with the Washington Nationals where he was Bryce Harper‘s hitting coach when he was with the Nats. Harper and Kyle Schwarber were both vocal advocates of Long when he faced criticism.
Long’s first season with the team in 2022 saw the team’s offensive stats climb and help the team to reach the World Series. The offense was also strong over the next three seasons and the team continued their playoff runs in each of those seasons. This past season, the team’s offensive numbers dipped to levels that they were at prior to Long joining the organization. The most notable struggles came from Trea Turner and J.T. Realmuto, but it has been noted that even Arraez, who was leading the league in hitting when he arrived from the Giants, saw his numbers decline and he wound up losing his grip on the NL batting title.
Bobby Dickerson served as the infield coach. His exit is more surprising. With the exception of Trea Turner, the Phillies infield defense has been pretty good. Even with players moving positions – Bryson Stott to third and Alec Bohm to first – last season when Luis Arraez was acquired the defense remained solid.
As a team, the Phillies infield had a Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) metric of -51 in 2026, which was tied with the Athletics for the worst in the majors. Their Outs Above Average (OAA) was -21, which placed them in the bottom third of all teams. Bohm, while showing overall improvement at third base, and Turner, whose defense has been notably weak were poor in both statistics.
In another move, Anthony Contreras, who started the year as the manager at Triple-A Lehigh Valley and then joined the Phillies staff as the third base coach when Dusty Wathan was elevated to be Mattingly’s bench coach, will be reassigned. Matt Gelb of The Athletic reports that Contreras will be reassigned, possibly going back to his job with Lehigh Valley or into a different role with the organization.
No replacements were announced for any of the coaches.
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