Phillies Hire Two Major League Coaches

Veteran baseball coaches Rick Kranitz and John McLaren have been added to the Phillies major league staff, Manager Pete Mackanin announced yesterday. Kranitz will serve as the bullpen coach while McLaren has been named the catching coach.

Kranitz spent the last five seasons (2011-15) as the pitching coach for the Milwaukee Brewers, following stints in the same position with the Baltimore Orioles (2008-10) and Florida Marlins (2006-07). In 2006 with the Marlins, Kranitz, 57, was named Major League Coach of the Year by Baseball America after his starting staff became the first in major league history to have four rookies with at least 10 wins each. He also spent 22 years (1984-2005) in the Chicago Cubs organization, six of which came on the major league coaching staff as assistant pitching coach (1996-98; 2000-01) and bullpen coach (2002).

A former catcher, McLaren has worked as a professional scout for the Oakland A's over the past four years (2012-15). He has 23 years of major league coaching experience from his time with the Toronto Blue Jays (1986-90), Boston Red Sox (1991), Cincinnati Reds (1992), Seattle Mariners (1993-2002; 2007), Tampa Bay Rays (2003-05) and Washington Nationals (2010-11). McLaren, 64, worked for 12 years as a bench coach, seven years as a third base coach and four years as a bullpen coach. He has also managed 159 major league games for the Mariners (2007-08) and Nationals (2011), going 70-89.

Hitting coach Steve Henderson and pitching coach Bob McClure have agreed to contracts for the 2016 season. As previously announced, bench coach Larry Bowa and first base coach Juan Samuel have both been asked back.