11/5/21 : Phillies Minor League News

Player Development Director Preston Mattingly made a few announcements today on a Zoom call regarding the Phillies Minor League structure.

• The plan is a blend of traditional and contemporary styles of teaching, it’s not an “old school” versus “new school” battle but rather a gathering of both into a “Phillies” school of doing things.

• Mattingly said his management style is not as a “micro manager” and that player development personnel will be able to “do their jobs”.

• The Phillies have hired Anthony Contreras as the next Triple A Manager at Lehigh Valley. Contreras comes from the Padres organization where he managed the Complex League team in 2015 and the Low A Midwest League team Fort Wayne from 2016 to 2019, he remained as manager of Fort Wayne when they moved to High A in 2021. He’s 38 years old and was drafted by the Giants in 2005 ( 9th round ) from San Jose State University. He played 9 years of minor league baseball with the Giants and Padres including four years at the AAA level. He was an infielder.

• Jason Ochart will return as Minor League Hitting Coordinator and Travis Hergert will be back as Minor League Pitching Coordinator albeit no longer with an “interim” title. The majority of the staff will return and he is in process of filling vacancies inclusive of Field Coordinator and Catching Coordinator where he said there are viable internal candidates being considered.

• He commented that he felt that the system is deeper in pitching talent and in general than public rankings indicate stating that those rankings can change quickly. He said players like Stott and O’Hoppe are doing well in the AFL and indicative of some of the talent in the system.

• He is in process of getting up to speed … perhaps needs a copy of the annual Phillies Minor League Digest 🧐 … I put that part in there 😂

Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️