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Phillies to hire Astros’ Josh Bonifay as new farm director

The Phillies, who hope to emulate the 2017 World Series champs, took one of their former instructors.

Josh Bonifay and his daughter Cora during his 2017 season with the Rangers.
Josh Bonifay and his daughter Cora during his 2017 season with the Rangers.Read moreMATT MARTON / AP FILE

The Phillies will hire former Texas Rangers and Houston Astros coach Josh Bonifay as their farm director, according to a source.

The news was first reported by The Athletic. It will likely be announced Thursday, an off-day for the World Series.

Bonifay, 40, spent seven of the last eight seasons as a coach and instructor in the Astros' minor-league system, working for one of baseball's most-progressive franchises.

Bonifay left the Astros in 2017 to join the Rangers' major-league staff as a field coordinator, before returning to Houston as their minor-league field coordinator. Bonifay managed in the Astros system for four seasons and was named the Class-A Midwest League manager of the year in 2015. He also spent two seasons as an Astros minor-league hitting coach.

He played eight years in the minors and is the son of Cam Bonifay, who was the Pittsburgh Pirates general manager from 1993 to 2001.

Bonifay will replace Joe Jordan, who resigned as director of player development in September, after serving in that role for seven seasons. Jordan oversaw the development of Rhys Hoskins, Scott Kingery, Aaron Nola, and Jorge Alfaro, who the Phillies expect to be part of their next contending team, but he no longer fit in their plans.

The Phillies, under general manager Matt Klentak, revamped their minor-league operation. Last season, they added a player-information coordinator to dissect analytics and data the same way the major-league team does. They followed Jordan's departure by letting go four long-time hitting instructors.

The Phillies want to do things differently, and that's why they went to Houston for their new farm director.