Only one more job remains on the Phillies coaching staff
After months of speculation, the Phillies have officially named former bullpen coach Rick Kranitz as their pitching coach. Kranitz had joined Pete Mackanin’s staff prior to the 2015 season but will remain with Kapler moving forward.
Kranitz had been the Marlins, Brewers, and Orioles pitching coach over the course of 10 seasons before joining Philadelphia. His predecessor Bob McClure was recently hired by the Minnesota Twins as a senior pitching advisor.
The organization also announced the hiring of Chris Young as their assistant pitching coach. Young pitched in the minors for Colorado, Pittsburgh, and Florida before moving into the Independent League. The 36-year-old pitched ross the river for the Camden Riversharks during the 2008 World Series run before retiring.
Young recently worked as a scout in the Houston Astros organization before coming to Philadelphia.
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With those two jobs becoming official Todd Zolecki reports former Yankees bench coach Rob Thomson will join the staff in the same role. The club has not made that hiring official, but Ken Rosenthal connected Thomson to the job last week.
Thomson was a candidate for the Yankees manager job but is believed to be out of the list of six finalists that includes Carlos Beltran and Aaron Boone. He served in multiple roles for the Yankees, including Field Coordinator, Director of Player Development, and Vice President of Minor League Development before joining Joe Girardi in the dugout.
With those three hirings, the Phillies are left only needing a first base coach after the organization announced Mickey Morandini would move into an ambassador role. No announcement regarding Juan Samuel has been made since former IronPigs manager Dusty Wathan took over as the third base coach.
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Samuel had served as the first base coach under Mackanin and Ryne Sandberg before moving across the diamond.