Phillies promote Brian Barber and Preston Mattingly to assistant GMs

The Phillies announced promotions in their baseball operations department on Wednesday. Preston Mattingly was promoted to assistant general manager, player development, and director of amateur scouting Brian Barber was promoted to assistant general manager, amateur scouting.

“Brian and Preston have done a tremendous job for us in leading our amateur scouting and player development departments, respectively,” said president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski in a team press release. “Our minor league talent has continued to progress because of the hard work of Brian and Preston and their staffs. Both Brian and Preston will continue to lead their respective departments while growing within our organization.”

» READ MORE: Clearwater is winning like no other team in baseball, and building a culture for the Phillies’ future

Mattingly joined the Phillies in September 2021 after spending five seasons in the scouting wing of the San Diego Padres organization. Before his career in baseball operations, he spent six seasons as an infielder and outfielder in the Dodgers’ minor league system.

Mattingly, the son of the former Yankees first baseman Don Mattingly, took over a Phillies farm system with a fractured culture. Since then, he has made a point of creating a more collaborative work environment, which has led to a more streamlined message to players. Two of the Phillies’ biggest player development success stories under Mattingly’s watch have been Orion Kerkering and Johan Rojas.

Kerkering, a right-handed reliever, was drafted in 2022 and made his major league debut just before the playoffs in 2023. Rojas, a defensively gifted center fielder, was signed to minor league contract in 2018 and made his debut in July at 22 years old.

Barber joined the Phillies in October 2019 after spending 18 years in the Yankees’ scouting department. Before his baseball operations career, he spent parts of four seasons as a pitcher with the St. Louis Cardinals (1995-96) and the Kansas City Royals (1998-99). Since joining the Phillies as director of amateur scouting, Barber has drafted four players ranked on MLB Pipeline’s top 100 prospects list: pitchers Andrew Painter and Mick Abel, outfielder Justin Crawford, and third baseman Aidan Miller.

The Phillies also announced a few other changes on Wednesday. Derrick Chung was promoted from assistant director, international scouting and administration to director of international scouting; Edwin Soto was promoted from manager, player development to assistant director of player development; and Connor Betbeze was promoted from coordinator, amateur scouting to assistant director, amateur scouting.

» READ MORE: Johan Rojas wasn’t supposed to stick with the Phillies — yet. But he had other plans.

Longtime director of international scouting Sal Agostinelli has transitioned into an advisory role as the team’s senior adviser of international scouting. Agostinelli has served as director of international scouting since 1997.