The Phillies announced Monday that they have hired Don Mattingly as the new bench coach for manager Rob Thomson. President of baseball Dave Dombrowski admitted last month that he had spoken with Mattingly about the vacancy. Last year’s bench coach, Mike Calitri, switched roles this offseason and became the team’s major league pitching coordinator. Mattingly spent the past three seasons as the Blue Jays’ bench coach but chose not to return to that role for the 2026 season as he instead explores other opportunities.
“I am excited to welcome Don Mattingly to Philadelphia,” Thompson said in a press release this morning. “Having known Don for many years and worked closely with him in New York, I know that his knowledge of the game and his character make him a great part of our coaching staff.
Notably, Mattingly joins an organization that employs his son, Preston, as its general manager. The younger Mattingly isn’t the top decision-maker in Philadelphia’s front office — Dombrowski still holds the title role as team president — but he’s a key figure in baseball operations who spent several seasons as the team’s director of player development and assistant general manager before being promoted to his current position.
As Thomson noted in his comments, the two men worked together in the Yankees organization, although they did not go through the coaching staff of the team. Thomson actually succeeded Mattingly as bench coach in 2008, after Mattingly accepted an offer to become Joe Torre’s hitting coach in Los Angeles. He had been in the running for the Bronx manager’s job which eventually went to Joe Girardi, who named Thomson as his new bench coach.
Even though they weren’t on the same league staff, Mattingly and Thompson worked together with the Yankees. Mattingly was a minor league coach before being added to the major league staff as hitting coach in 2003. During that time, Thomson served as a minor league manager and as a key figure in the Yankees’ player development department, where the two aligned to work with up and coming Yankees talent.
In addition to his work as a bench coach and hitting coach between the Bronx and LA, the 64-year-old Mattingly spent five years managing the Dodgers and seven more with the Marlins. He then jumped to the Jays, where he was first hired as a bench coach and later added the title of “offensive coordinator”. In that role, Mattingly oversaw hitting coaches up and down the organization.
Now headed to Philadelphia, Mattingly will serve as Thomson’s top lieutenant. There has been some speculation as to how long Thomson will stay in charge, but he has signed a one-year extension through the 2027 season following the 2025 campaign, so he is locked in for at least two more years. Mattingly is actually two years older than Thomson, so he’s not exactly the youngest expected heir, but if Thomson retires after his current contract, the Phillies will have an experienced option in the organization already. If not, Mattingly just adds another seasoned coach to a veteran staff filled with several well-regarded names.
