Phillies Moving On From Hitting Coach Kevin Long And Infield Coach Bobby Dickerson
Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long during batting practice before the Phillies play the St. Louis Cardinals in game two of the National League Wild Card Series on Saturday, October 8, 2022. Credit: Yong Kim / The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Phillies will have some new coaches on Don Mattingly staff for 2027.
According to NBC Sports Philadelphia reporter Jim Salisbury, the Phillies are reportedly moving on from hitting coach Kevin Long and Infield coach Bobby Dickerson, marking the first change of staff following the hiring of new Phillies full-time manager Don Mattingly.
Moves were expected to begin to be made following the announcement of Mattingly’s two-year contract to become the franchise’s 56th manager, and the first moves are relieving the coaches behind arguably the Phillies’ two biggest issues from this past season.
Philadelphia’s offense ranked in the bottom half of every major offensive category this season, most notably as a team posting a .707 OPS, which ranked 22nd, and a .240 average, which ranked 21st. While those numbers don’t seem that bad, their OPS last season was .759, ranking fourth in the league, and they finished second in batting average with a .258.
Those huge drops in production led to multiple stretches of little to no offense from a Phillies team that desperately needed it in 2026. The Phillies had 53 games in 2026 where they scored two runs or less, a number that increased by six games compared to 2025.
Long and Dickerson have both been with the Phillies since 2022, as Long came over from the Nationals after serving in the same position with them for four seasons, and Dickerson, who previously was the Phillies infield coach in 2019, reunited with the team after spending two years with the Padres.
With the Nationals, Long worked with Bryce Harper during his final season in Washington, and his relationship with Harper, plus his relationship with former Phillies manager Joe Girardi, whom Long worked with previously in New York with the Yankees, ultimately got him the job.
Long’s influence was massive in the signing of left-handed slugger Kyle Schwarber. Schwarber spent the first half of the 2021 season in Washington, where he had a career resurgence under Long, smacking 25 home runs in 72 games. Long’s influence and help to Schwarber in DC were a huge needle mover when it came to signing with Philadelphia in 2022.
Trea Turner was another former player alongside Harper and Schwarber in Washington under Long, and his being in Philadelphia definitely had a role in him wanting to play for the Phillies. While Long has done a lot for this city and team, the writing has been on the wall for some time now, as outside of the top bats for the Phillies, the rest of the lineup has been subpar under Long’s leadership.
As for Dickerson, this core of Phillies players has never been the cream of the crop when it comes to defense, but in a season where they ranked dead last in Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) and in the bottom half of Defensive Efficiency (DefEff), change may be needed.
The Phillies aren’t going to turn into a team full of Gold Glove players whenever the new infield coach gets here, but a new voice and new style to help with improvement are definitely needed.
Matt Brown
Matt has been a Philadelphia sports fan all his life and spent four years at Penn State University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Sports Studies. He previously covered Penn State’s field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball teams while writing for a Penn State blog called Onward State. He has now covered the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers for Philly Sports Reports since October 2024 and wants to pursue a career in Sports Journalism.
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