Phillies: 2 Finalists Emerge for Hitting Coach Position
Matt Stairs
Back in late October, NBC Sports Philadelphia wrote that “it would not be surprising” to see the Phillies “consider a reunion with Matt Stairs, their hitting coach in 2017.”
As it turns out, they were correct, as according to Breen, the organization recently interviewed the Phillies’ 2008 NLCS Game 4 hero for the hitting coach position over the phone.
Stairs spent just one season as Padres hitting coach in 2018; he was dismissed with the team wanting a “different message” and “voice,” according to general manager A.J. Preller, who told the Associated Press:
“We have some other guys in mind who have real upside. I’m pretty realistic that it was a younger roster, with developing players. From a performance standpoint we didn’t have tons of guys who improved. It’s not like the entire team overachieved. We did have some improvement, but at the end of the day, sitting down with [manager] Andy [Green] and talking about it, we thought maybe a different voice, a different connection point will hopefully lead to better performance.”
Under Stairs, the Padres ranked last on-base percentage (.297), tied for second-to-last in batting average (.235), and tied for third-to-last in slugging percentage (.380), all the while recording the second-most strikeouts (1,523).
Stairs left the Phillies following the 2017 season, his first as a professional coach, amid a Phillies managerial change that saw Pete Mackanin depart and Gabe Kapler arrive. Phillies coaches were told by general manager Matt Klentak that “they could try to return with the new manager, which was not a guarantee, or look elsewhere for employment,” according to MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki.
Stairs did the latter, but would ultimately last just one season. He did not coach this past season in the majors.
A 19-season major league career with 12 different franchises, Stairs’ most memorable surely is winning the World Series with the Phillies in 2008. He helped his team to a Game 4 victory NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers, slugging a game-winning, pinch-hit two-run homer opposite Jonathan Broxton at Dodger Stadium. He also played for the Phillies in 2009, and ended his career with the Padres (2010) and Washington Nationals (2011).
Prior, he played for the: Montreal Expos (1992-93), Boston Red Sox (1995), Oakland Athletics (1996-2000), Chicago Cubs (2001), Milwaukee Brewers (2002), Pittsburgh Pirates (2003), Kansas City Royals (2004-2006), Texas Rangers (2006), Detroit Tigers (2006), and Toronto Blue Jays (2007-08).
In his career, Stairs batted a combined .262 with 294 doubles, 13 triples, 265 home runs, 899 RBI, 717 walks and 770 runs spanning 1,895 games. He is MLB’s all-time leader in pinch home runs (23) and has the second-most home runs by a Canadian-born player (265), trailing just Larry Walker (383). His five pinch home runs for the Phillies in 2009 tied Gene Freese (1959) for the single-season franchise record.
Stairs has been inducted into the New Brunswick Hall of Fame (2012), as well as the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame (2015). Among his other professional roles includes being a guest spring training instructor for the Phillies in 2016, in-studio analyst for NESN, MLB Network Radio co-host, and three seasons (2014-16) as a color analyst for Phillies television broadcasts on CSN Philly.
Joe Dillon
The Phillies have received permission from the Washington Nationals to interview Joe Dillon, their assistant hitting coach, as first reported by NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jim Salisbury.
Dillon was the first reported candidate for the vacant position; he has gained recognition around Major League Baseball, Salisbury writes,“for marrying new-age science with old-school principles in coaching hitters,” a similar philosophy as to what Girardi will bring to the Phillies. Breen writes that Dillon “brought cutting-edge techniques to the Nationals, introducing teaching methods that were inspired by neurologists and intended to strengthen hitters’ cognitive skills.”
RELATED | Phillies to Interview Nationals’ Joe Dillon for Hitting Coach Position
As Nationals assistant hitting coach in 2018 and 2019, Dillon has worked with Kevin Long, who worked alongside Girardi on the New York Yankees’ coaching staff from 2008 to 2017. Long has viewed Dillon “the best assistant hitting coach in the baseball.”
Prior to becoming the Nationals assistant hitting coach in 2018, Dillon was the Miami Marlins’ minor league hitting coordinator, and as hitting coach for Triple-A Syracuse, where he tutored eventual-big leaguers Michael A. Taylor, Trea Turner, Brian Goodwin and Steven Souza Jr., among others.
The 44-year-old played in parts of four seasons in the major leagues: 2005 with the Florida Marlins (replacing Mike Lowell at third base), 2007-08 with the Milwaukee Brewers, and 2009 with the Tampa Bay Rays. Over 137 career games, 95 with the Brewers, Dillon slashed .263/.344/.378 with 12 doubles, three home runs, 19 RBI, 22 walks and 47 strikeouts spanning 246 plate appearances.
Under Dillon, the 2019 World Series champion Nationals ranked seventh in baseball in slugging percentage, second in on-base percentage, and sixth in batting average, all marks the Phillies failed to rank better than 18th, according to Breen.
Chili Davis
Charles Theodore “Chili” Davis, who will turn 60 on January 17, played 19 seasons as an outfielder and designated hitter in the majors from 1981 to 1999: San Francisco Giants (1981-87), California Angels (1988-90, 1993-96), Minnesota Twins (1991-92), Kansas City Royals (1997) and New York Yankees (1988-99).
Davis was one of the three original finalists for the Phillies’ hitting coach position, however, he has since agreed to return to the Mets for a second season, according to SNY’s Andy Martino. He had been the hitting coach for three different Major League clubs over the past three seasons, including the Boston Red Sox (2017), Chicago Cubs (2018).
The switch-hitter’s most successful season at the plate came in 1993, when he slugged 27 home runs and a career-high 112 RBI in his first season with the Angels. When Davis made his major league debut on April 10, 1981, he became the first Jamaican-born player to reach the majors.
Davis’ other playing career accomplishments include winning the World Series in three of his four career postseason appearances (Twins, 1991; Yankees, 1998 and 1999), being named an All-Star three times, as well as compiling a .274 career average with 424 doubles, 30 triples, 350 homers, and 1,372 RBI spanning 2,436 games.
Coaching Experience:
- 2003-04: Hitting coach for the Australian Baseball Academy
- 2010: Part-time instructor in the Dodgers Fall Instructional League
- 2011: Hitting coach for the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox.
- 2012-14: Oakland A’s hitting coach
- 2015-17: Boston Red Sox hitting coach
- 2018: Chicago Cubs hitting coach
- 2019: New York Mets hitting coach
While coaching the Cubs as hitting coach, replacing eventual Phillies hitting coach (and since-dismissed) John Mallee, the offense produced a National League-best .258 batting average and second-best .333 on-base percentage. Joining the A’s in 2012, the team increased their total number of runs scored (+68) and home runs (+81) from the previous season. And, from 2015 to 2017 with the Red Sox, the team led the majors in runs scored (2,411), tied for best on-base percentage (.334), had the second-best batting average (.268) and third-best OPS (.762).
Davis is still being paid by the Cubs through 2020, yet he has signed a multi-year contract from the Mets, according to Martino. Breen writes that last season, Davis oversaw the unexpected rise of several young Mets hitters, including National League Rookie of the Year Pete Alonso and fellow All-Star Jeff McNeill, adding:
The Mets ranked sixth in the NL last season in average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. Davis stresses a situational-hitting philosophy and took the Mets away from an approach based on launch angles, yet the team still had the fifth-highest home run total in the National League. Davis may not be as analytically inclined as Dillon, but he has still found a way to produce power.
Davis and Girardi had a lot in common, particular in the World Series championship category. Both won the championship three times as players, and were teammates on the Yankees’ 1998 and 1999 World Series-winning teams.
The New York Post wrote that Girardi could have “poach” Davis from the Mets. Such “poaching” will not occur, with Davis returning to the team’s rival.
Breen writes that Girardi is known for his “ability to find a balance between being new age and old school,” and that he is “open to analytics but does not close himself off to traditional baseball methods. Bryan Price, whom Girardi hired last month as pitching coach, has a similar approach. And it would be no surprise if Girardi’s hitting coach thought the same way.”
Now, it appears Girardi will likely choose between either Dillon or Stairs as the next hitting coach.