Phillies hire Don Mattingly as bench coach: ‘This is the perfect guy’
The former Yankees star put off retirement to help "lighten the load" for manager Rob Thomson. And he’ll get to be on the same team with his son, Preston, the Phillies' general manager.
There was a point last season when Don Mattingly was planning on calling it a career.
He went into 2025, his third year as the bench coach with the Blue Jays, expecting it to be his last in the sport. Mattingly, now 64, thought he had accomplished what he had set out to do in Toronto, helping a younger manager in John Schneider become established.
But it was his 11-year-old son, Louis, who helped change his mind.
“Dad, you can’t stop,” Louis told him. “You’ve got to keep going.”
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And after Toronto fell to the Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series — marking Mattingly’s first World Series appearance in more than 40 years in baseball as a player, manager, and coach — he was approached by the Phillies for their open bench coach job.
The position had been vacated after Mike Calitiri was moved to the role of major league field coordinator at the end of the season. The fit was natural on both sides. The Phillies wanted a veteran voice to add to manager Rob Thomson’s staff. Mattingly managed the Dodgers from 2011-15 and the Marlins from 2016-22.
He had also previously worked alongside Thomson and hitting coach Kevin Long in the Yankees organization, as well as assistant hitting coach Edwar Gonzalez with the Marlins.
And he will reunite with another of his sons, Preston Mattingly, who is the Phillies’ 38-year-old general manager.
“When it came to me that there was a possibility that Donny was going to be available, I said, ‘This is the perfect guy,’” Thomson said Monday after the Phillies announced that Mattingly’s hiring was official. “Because I know the integrity, I know the knowledge. I know how detailed he is. And plus, I think he’s a great sounding board for our players and our stars. He’s been there, and he’s done all these things, and the rest of us really can’t answer that.”
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Thomson’s contract was recently extended through 2027, and Mattingly said Monday he had committed to “a couple of years” with the Phillies’ manager.
He also said he has no further aspirations to be a manager again. His approach as a bench coach is to be another set of eyes and ears for Thomson.
“I know it gets busy and fast at times when you’re thinking about your pitching, and then you got a pitch-hit situation, and all those things get fast,” Mattingly said. “ … Try to stay ahead of him and just lighten the load for him.”
Mattingly’s playing career, during which he was a six-time All-Star, nine-time Gold Glove winner at first base, and 1985 American League MVP, also influences how he coaches.
“The one thing I’ve tried to always do is never forget how hard the game is,” Mattingly said. “Guys make a lot of money, and we expect them to come through all the time, and that’s just not that way. … I’m always going to try to be myself [in] any role that I’ve played, as a coach or a hitting coach or manager, I feel like I’m here to help players. I’m here to serve, help them get the best out of their ability.”
Mattingly managed Phillies pitcher Jesús Luzardo on the Marlins, and is looking forward to developing relationships with the other Phillies players. He met Bryce Harper at the 2017 All-Star Game in Miami.
“He’s always been a guy for me who’s been really interesting, just because of how young he was when he came [up], how good he was when he broke into the league, watching his development over the years,” Mattingly said of Harper. “This cat can go, for me. He’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer, hands down. So I love being around guys like that.”
It’s a bit of an unusual arrangement to have his son in the front office, but Mattingly said his priority is preserving trust with the players.
“I’m not a voice that’s just running upstairs and talking about anything and everything,” he said. “That’s just not the way I operate. I came from a different era where that is not something that happens. I’m going to have to build that trust with players so they will trust me that that’s not going to happen.”
But there is also the possibility for a storybook ending for Mattingly’s career. He had hoped last season that Toronto would meet the Phillies in the World Series to go head-to-head with Preston. Now, they’re on the same side.
“To be able to do it with him would be incredible,” Mattingly said.