Apr 30, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson during the eighth inning against the Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images Bill Streicher
PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies will be in the market for a new bench coach in the wake of a coaching staff reassignment.
"We're going to add the position of major league field coordinator, which a lot of clubs have now, to the coaching staff," Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said. "Mike Calitri is going to take that role for us."
The Phillies initially hired Calitri as an advance scout in 2018, and he joined the major league staff as a quality assurance coach in 2021. When then-bench coach Rob Thomson was named interim manager in 2022, Calitri was promoted to fill Thomson's former position, and he's been the Phillies' bench coach ever since.
Now, Calitri will step into the role of major league field coordinator, a role that Dombrowski estimated 80% of MLB clubs had on their coaching staff.
That number is actually 30%, with nine of 30 MLB teams listing the specific role of field coordinator. Of those nine coordinators, one (Bob Geren with the Los Angeles Dodgers) is a former MLB manager, and four double up with another coaching responsibility.
"Mike's going to be doing exactly what he was doing last year. All the organization, Spring Training, on a daily basis during the season," manager Rob Thomson said. "Get all the information, run advanced meetings."
Essentially, a major league field coordinator handles scheduling and administrative work, particularly in Spring Training. That's something Calitri has already handled for years.
"(Calitri's) an ideal person. He's got the skill set to do that, continue to coordinate spring training and a lot of other things for Rob Thomson," Dombrowski said.
"In turn, we'll look outside the organization to add a major league bench coach to assist us, and assist Topper, in different fashion."
That leaves the bench coach position wide open.
"What we're really doing is adding a guy that (can be) another set of eyes. Maybe new perspective, different perspective on our club. New ideas," Thomson said.
According to Dombrowski, they'd prefer the new bench coach to have previous managerial experience.
"Managers use bench coaches in different fashions during a game, but I think it would be ideal to have somebody that maybe has had some managerial experience," Dombrowski said.
Thomson clarified that Calitri will stay involved during games, just like he was as bench coach.
"I'm still going to be utilizing everyone on that bench, including Mike, for information during the game," Thomson said. "I just think it adds, hopefully, an experienced guy that is just a different perspective, and makes us a little bit better."
While the role of field coordinator may be unfamiliar to the Phillies organization, it isn't unfamiliar to Thomson. He served as a minor league field coordinator for the New York Yankees from 1998 to 1999.
Both Dombrowski and Thomson reiterated that the goal of this staff addition is to make the team better. And maybe it will. Four teams are currently playing in the league championship series. Three of them – the Dodgers, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Seattle Mariners – employ major league field coordinators.
