The Phillies have invited eight alumni to participate in spring training as guest instructors, the club announced today. The group consists of members of the 1980 and 2008 World Champion teams, along with the 1993 National League champs.
Manager Gabe Kapler and his coaching staff will intermittently be assisted by Bobby Abreu, Chad Durbin, Jim Eisenreich, Dan Plesac, Jimmy Rollins and Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt. Current Phillies front office executives Larry Bowa and Charlie Manuel will also be in uniform for the entirety of spring training.
Bowa and Manuel both work on the Phillies' baseball operations staff as senior advisors to General Manager Matt Klentak, while Schmidt has been a member of the broadcast team for the past five seasons. All three are enshrined on the Phillies Wall of Fame.
For Plesac, a 10-year veteran of MLB Network, the 2019 spring will mark his third as an instructor with the team (2015 and 2018). Abreu returns for his second consecutive spring. A member of the 1993 NL champions, Eisenreich will take part in his first spring with the club since his four-year stint as a player from 1993-96. A .324 hitter with the Phillies with a .381 on-base percentage, Eisenreich remains one of the more popular players of the Phillies' recent past.
Rollins will make his coaching debut with the team after recently being named a special advisor to the club. He played 15 years (2000-14) with the Phillies and is the franchise's all-time leader in hits (2,306), doubles (479) and at-bats (8,628) and ranks second in games (2,090), extra-base hits (806), total bases (3,655) and stolen bases (453). He was the 2007 National League Most Valuable Player, a three-time NL All-Star (2001-02, 2005), won four NL Gold Gloves at shortstop (2007-09, 2012) and one Silver Slugger (2007).
The remaining members of the spring training instructional staff are the major league coaching staff of Bobby Dickerson (infield), Paco Figueroa (first base/outfield), Jim Gott (bullpen), Pedro Guerrero (assistant hitting), Dave Lundquist (assistant pitching), John Mallee (hitting), Rob Thomson (bench), Dusty Wathan (third base), Chris Young (pitching), Craig Driver (bullpen catcher/receiving) and Bob Stumpo (bullpen catcher/catching); the triple-A staff of Gary Jones (manager), Darryl Robinson (hitting coach), Greg Legg (coach) and Steve Schrenk (pitching coach); minor league coordinators Andy Abad (outfield), Carlos Arroyo (roving pitching), Juan Castro (infield), Rafael Chaves (director, pitching development), Rob Ducey (bunting/baserunning), Jason Ochart (hitting), Russ Steinhorn (assistant hitting), Chris Truby (infield), Ben Werthan (information) and Ernie Whitt (catching); double-A manager Shawn Williams; and baseball operations staff members Mike Calitri and Sam Fuld.
The first workout for pitchers and catchers at the Phillies' spring training complex in Clearwater, Fla., is scheduled for February 13 with full-squad workouts slated to begin on February 18.