Perfect Game’s All-American Classic brings MLB veterans together to coach future stars
Joe Girardi and Shane Victorino were back in Citizens Bank Park’s dugout as managers for Team West and East, with several MLB veterans on their coaching staffs: “That’s how you get better.”
The past and the future met at Citizens Bank Park on Sunday morning for the Perfect Game All-American Classic. Sixty of the top high school baseball players in the country took the field and were coached by former major leaguers.
Former Phillies manager Joe Girardi, a four-time World Series champion as both a Yankees skipper and player, served as the manager of the West team. Across the field in the first-base dugout, former Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino was the manager of the East team.
Ultimately, it was Girardi who came out on top with an 8-3 win for the West team.
Girardi spent 273 games as the Phillies manager starting in 2020. He went 132-141 record with a .484 win percentage before being fired early in the 2022 season. He hadn’t been back in the dugout at Citizens Bank Park since. Instead, he’s been focusing on his role as a Yankees game analyst for the YES network. He said it was great to be back in Philly.
“I enjoyed my time here,” Girardi said. “It’s a great baseball town. People are extremely passionate. Just great to be around these young kids too.”
Victorino, whose eight seasons in Philly included two All-Star selections, three Gold Gloves, and the 2008 World Series title, has spent a lot of time back in the city. During All-Star Weekend last month, he led Team Victorino to win the inaugural MLBx three-on-three tournament against Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, and Andruw Jones.
Also part of both the Perfect Game coaching staff and the 2008 Phillies were pitchers Kyle Kendrick and Tom Gordon. Milton Thompson and Ben Rivera, from the Phillies’ 1993 NL champions, joined them on the coaching staff, along with fellow ex-Phillie José Contreras. Former manager Charlie Manuel was in attendance as the honorary chairman for the first-ever Perfect Game event held at Citizens Bank Park.
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With so many players back and involved in the event, Victorino said it’s a testament to the “Phillie way.”
“There’s something special when I came here, and I learned that through the years that there’s a way that they do it here,” he said. “To be a part of it, to be called back, and to be a part of this organization still, [with] five, six people involved in this [event] it’s always amazing.”
Fellow former major leaguers Mo Vaughn, Trevor Hoffman, Ryan Klesko, Todd Coffey, Denard Span, and Jason Phillips, and Girardi’s son Dante were also on the coaching staffs.
For Dylan Seward, a shortstop from Corona, Calif., who is projected to be the top pick in the 2027 draft by MLB.com and is committed to Tennessee, the opportunity to play and learn under these veterans was “a major blessing.”
“Joe’s managed some of the best players ever, so getting to pick his brain a little bit, to me, that’s how you get better,” Seward said. “Always [having an] open mind and ask a lot of questions from guys with a lot of knowledge and just really listening.”
In line with the rest of the big names surrounding the game, Daron Sutton and former Phillies outfielder Hunter Pence called the game on PGTV.
Pence’s nephew, Striker Pence, a 6-foot-6 two-way player also from Corona, pitched the first inning. The right-hander maxed out at 99 mph with the rest of his pitches sitting in the high 90s.
In the fourth inning, Pence, who bats left-handed, hit a double to centerfield that brought in the first two runs of the game.
On the East team, Brue Milner, a catcher from Tallassee, Ala., who is committed to Georgia Tech, went yard in the top of the sixth to bring in a run for Victorino’s team. Later in the inning, a base-hit from Harry Chubb Jones Jr., an Alabama pledge from Douglasville, Ga., tied the game.
A sacrifice fly from Max Hemenway, a native of Puyallup, Wash., who’s another Tennessee recruit, gave the East a one-run lead in the top of the eighth. An RBI single from LSU recruit Sebastian Castillo, of Justin, Texas, in the bottom of the frame tied it up. Pence walked, moving Castillo to second before he stole third. A single from Ontario’s Jalen Jacobs brought Castillo home before a grand slam from another LSU pledge, Koa Romero from Des Allemands, La., ended the game.
The talent displayed is something both Victorino and Girardi said they don’t recall possessing at 17, but it says a lot about the direction the game is heading.
“It’s amazing the size, first and foremost, and then the ability to play the game at the level at such a young age,” Victorino said. “I think it’s pretty impressive, but again, there’s so much more for these kids to learn, so much more ahead for them.”