Phillies hire John Mallee as hitting coach, announce two other coaches

The Phillies have hired John Mallee as their new hitting coach with Dusty Wathan joining the major-league staff and Rick Kranitz staying aboard.

Gabe Kapler is starting to build his coaching staff as the new Phillies manager. The team announced Friday that former Cubs hitting coach John Mallee will be the team’s next hitting coach. In addition, Dusty Wathan will get his first full-time major-league coaching job as the new third base coach while Rick Kranitz will stay with the team.

Mallee was Chicago’s hitting coach for the last three years before being fired after the Cubs were eliminated in the playoffs. Under Mallee’s tenure, Kris Bryant won both Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player honors. In addition, Anthony Rizzo and several other players emerged as offensive talents.

Prior to being with the Cubs, Mallee was Miami’s hitting coach in 2010 and 2011 and Houston’s hitting coach in 2013 and 2014. In fact, Philadelphia drafted Mallee as a shortstop/second baseman in the 12th round in 1991 and he played two years in the team’s minor-league system.

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Mallee will replace Matt Stairs, who was hired by the Padres while Philadelphia was still deciding on their next manager.

Wathan is a semi-new addition to the coaching staff for 2018. He was actually one of the finalists for the manager position after managing in the farm system for the last decade. Wathan knows pretty much every player in the clubhouse who came up through Philadelphia’s system and Kapler is sure to value that familiarity.

With Wathan as the next third base coach, Juan Samuel’s future role with the team is undecided. He was the third base coach the last few years and interviewed for the manager position. He could still find another spot on the major-league coaching staff, or he may get moved into the front office like Larry Bowa.

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Krantiz also possesses familiarity with many of the pitchers on the team as he served as the team’s assistant pitching coach the past two years. Before that, he was a pitching coach for the Marlins, Orioles, and Brewers. As of now, what Kranitz’s role will be in 2018 is still up in the air.

With the hitting and third base coach taken care of, some other key members of the staff still need to be hired like the head pitching coach, bench coach, and first base coach, along with other minor members of the staff.

At Kapler’s introductory press conference, he said he wants to hire a staff with many viewpoints rather than a staff that all thinks the exact same way: [quote via Jim Salisbury and Corey Seidman of CSN Philly]

"“I don’t want seven people in the dugout who think just like me,” he said. “I value somebody with a lot of veteran experience. I have a tremendous amount of value for someone who thinks more progressively. So I’d say diversity of thought, diversity of experience, that’s a strong way to build a major-league coaching staff.”"

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Whatever the final coaching staff may be, it will likely look very different from the one that ended the 2017 season.