Philadelphia Phillies: Sam Fuld replaces Matt Klentak as GM

The Phillies announced several promotions within their front office on Tuesday, including Sam Fuld as their next general manager.

The Philadelphia Phillies front office continues to transform. Following the recent hire of Dave Dombrowski as president of baseball operations, the team announced on Tuesday that it has promoted its Director of Integrative Baseball Performance Sam Fuld to become its new general manager.

Also, the Phillies announced that they have additionally promoted Jorge Velandia to assistant general manager and Terry Ryan to special assistant to the general manager.

Earlier this offseason, Fuld was a finalist to become the next manager of the Boston Red Sox — the same organization in which Dombrowski won his second of two World Series championships just three seasons ago. The 2018 champion Red Sox manager, Alex Cora, was rehired and beat out Fuld for  the position.

The Phillies first hired Fuld, a Stanford University economics grad, following the 2017 season as their Major League player information coordinator; then, he was assigned to work with players, coaches, the team’s research and development department, as well as fellow front-office staff to integrate advanced metrics into the team. He also served as a big-league outfield instructor in red pinstripes. Most recently, as director of integrative baseball performance, Fuld oversaw athletic training, strength and conditioning and nutrition.

The 39-year-old Fuld played eight seasons in Major League Baseball that began in 2007 with the Chicago Cubs and ended in 2015 with the Oakland Athletics; in between, the Durham, New Hampshire, native also played for the Tampa Bay Rays and Minnesota Twins.

Spanning 598 career games, Fuld slashed just .227/.307/.325 with 60 doubles, 18 triples, 12 home runs, 112 RBI, 67 stolen bases and 153 walks; he played all three outfield positions, including in 2015, when he turned the fifth-most double plays (3) among American League outfielders. During his first season in 2009, Fuld led National League rookies with a .409 on-base percentage, as well as finished fourth with a .299 batting average.

Following an 18-year professional playing career from 1992-2009, Velandia has since worked in the Phillies organization. Over the past four years, specifically, he served as special assistant to the GM. Ryan, likewise had spent the past four years with the Phillies as a special assignment scout. Prior, he spent 31 years with the Minnesota Twins, including 19 seasons as their general manager — when the Twins won the American League Central Division four times (2002-04 and 2006).

The promotions of Fuld,  Velandia, and Ryan mark the first significant moves of the Dombrowski era.