MLB winter meetings: rumors and updates regarding the Phillies Rob Thomson receives an extension of his contract. Phillies appoint two new hitting coaches and extend manager Rob Thomson’s contract.
On Monday afternoon, the Phillies made some announcements regarding their coaching staff. They hired Dustin Lind and Rafael Peña as assistant hitting coaches, and extended manager Rob Thomson’s contract through the 2025 season, according to a team press release. In 2023, Peña worked as a minor league hitting coordinator for the Houston Astros, while Lind was the director of hitting and assistant hitting coach for the San Francisco Giants.
The Phillies announced that Jason Camilli, their former assistant hitting coach, would not be returning for the 2024 season. Lind and Peña will take his place. Kevin Long, the hitting coach, will oversee them.
Lind, 35, worked as a minor league quality assurance coach for the Giants for four seasons (2020–23), and as director of hitting development for the Mariners for two of those seasons (2018–2019). From 2014 to 2017, he was his own independent hitting consultant.
Peña, 33, has worked with Astros minor league players for the past six years. In 2021, he also served as hitting coach for Leones del Escogido of the Dominican Winter League and the Arizona Fall League.
For the Phillies, cutting the chase rate will be their first priority going forward. During the regular season, they chased 31.4% of pitches out of the zone, which is significantly more than the league average of 28.6%. During his post-season press conference, Dombrowski cited it as the reason the Phillies lost to the Diamondbacks in the National League Championship Series.
Early in November, he said, “We swung at way too many pitches out of the strike zone.” “Much too many.” It remains to be seen how Lind and Peña will try to make that right.
However, Lind is one person who has a track record of accomplishment in San Francisco. In 2020, he led the Giants to a fifth-place major league batting average of.263 and a franchise-record 241 home runs in 2021. With an OBP of.380, which was good for fifth in baseball, the Giants’ pinch hitters scored a league-high 29 runs in the previous season.
Lind was regarded as “unquestionably one of the most talented hitting minds in the game” by a former Giants colleague. Although Peña hasn’t coached in the major leagues, he has produced some of the homegrown players that came through the Astros system.
Thomson became the Phillies’ manager on June 5 and has led the team to a 155-118 record and two straight postseason appearances. When questioned in November about the status of his contract, he appeared unconcerned about the future.
“I have never worried about my contract in my entire career,” Thomson remarked. “I’ve never been concerned about losing my job. since I have no control over it. I simply am unable to. I thus put it aside, focus on my work, and let whatever transpire naturally.