The Phillies have finalized their player development field staff for the 2019 season, Josh Bonifay, Director, Player Development, announced today. Chris Truby, who most recently served as minor league infield coordinator (2014-18) has been promoted to minor league field coordinator. The 2019 season will mark Truby's 11th year with the Phillies after previously serving as manager at single-A Williamsport (2009-10), single-A Lakewood (2011) and single-A Clearwater (2012-13).
At triple-A Lehigh Valley, Gary Jones, the reigning International League Manager of the Year, will return for his second year at the helm after leading the IronPigs to a North Division championship in his first year as manager. Darryl Robinson joins Jones' staff as hitting coach after spending the last 10 seasons with the Houston Astros, including the past two as hitting coach for triple-A Fresno. Steve Schrenk (pitching coach) and Greg Legg (coach) will also join Jones' staff after spending last season with double-A Reading, where Legg served as manager and Schrenk as pitching coach.
Shawn Williams will take over as manager for double-A Reading after spending the past two seasons guiding single-A Clearwater in the same role. The 2019 season will mark Williams' sixth season in the Phillies' player development staff after previously serving as manager for single-A Williamsport (2014), single-A Lakewood (2015-16) and Clearwater. Kevin Riggs returns for his second season as hitting coach after guiding the Fightins to an Eastern League-leading 141 home runs in 2018. Aaron Fultz will follow Williams from Clearwater to Reading as pitching coach after spending the last three seasons in that same role with the Threshers (2016-18). Nelson Prada will round out Williams' staff as a coach following his stint last season as manager for the Gulf Coast League Phillies West squad.
At Clearwater, Marty Malloy takes over as manager following a two-year run as manager with Lakewood where he was named South Atlantic League Manager of the Year in 2018. Malloy guided the BlueClaws to a 160-117 record and .578 winning percentage in his two years at the helm. Rubén Gotay returns for his second season as a coach with the Threshers following a 17-year playing career from 2001-17. Tyler Henson will join Malloy's staff as hitting coach, his second stint with the Threshers following a one-year run as player-coach in 2016. Henson spent last season as hitting coach for Lakewood. Brad Bergesen will join the Threshers staff as pitching coach after spending last season in the same role for Lakewood.
Lakewood welcomes manager Mike Micucci, who takes the helm after spending last season with the Seattle Mariners as coordinator of organization instruction. Joining Micucci will be Christian Marrero, who served as Williamsport's hitting coach in 2018 and will hold the same title this season with the BlueClaws. Joining Lakewood as a positional coach will be Adam Godwin, a former outfielder. He was a member of Pittsburgh's player development staff over the previous four years. Former Phillies minor league pitcher Matt Hockenberry, who made his coaching debut last season with Gulf Coast League Phillies West, will serve as Lakewood's pitching coach.
Pat Borders returns to Williamsport for his fifth season as manager. Also returning to the Crosscutters will be pitching coach Héctor Berrios, who enters his fourth year in that role and 22nd overall as a minor league pitching coach and positional coach Greg Brodzinski, who returns to the Cutters after spending a majority of last season with Reading. Joel McKeithan, a former infielder, will hold the title of Crosscutters hitting coach in his first season as a professional coach. McKeithan played collegiately at Vanderbilt and most recently served as a hitting instructor at Driveline Baseball.
Manager Roly DeArmas and his entire staff, Charlie Hayes (coach), Rafael DeLima (hitting coach) and Héctor Mercado (pitching coach) will all return to rookie-level Gulf Coast League Phillies East with the addition of Kevin Martir (development coach). For Gulf Coast League Phillies West, Milver Reyes will join the club as manager following a one-year stint as coach with Lakewood. Chris Heintz will return as hitting coach for his second season while Bruce Billings (pitching coach), Harold Garcia (development coach) and Bobby Wernes (coach) will join the staff for their first respective seasons. Billings was originally selected by the Phillies in the 31st round of the June 2006 draft, Garcia played in the Phillies minor league system from 2005-11 and Wernes played last season for double-A Hartford in the Colorado Rockies organization.
Finally, the respective staffs for both the rookie-level Dominican Summer League Phillies Red, led by manager Waner Santana and rookie-level Dominican Summer League Phillies White, led by manager Orlando Muñoz will return in full for 2019.
In addition to the changes on the respective team staffs, Jason Ochart has been hired as hitting coordinator, as previously announced. Further, Russ Steinhorn has been named assistant hitting coordinator following a one-year run as the director of player development at Clemson University. Juan Castro, a former Phillies infielder who fielded the final out in Roy Halladay's perfect game on May 29, 2010, has been hired as infield coordinator. Additionally, Ed Lucas and Rob Segedin have both been hired as player information assistants. Lucas played collegiately at Dartmouth before a 13-year professional career with Kansas City Royals (2004-10), Atlanta Braves (2011), Los Angeles Angels (2012), Miami Marlins (2013-14), Texas Rangers (2015), Arizona Diamondbacks (2016) and Seattle Mariners (2016) organizations. Segedin, who recently earned a master's degree in business analytics from Indiana University, recently completed a nine-year professional career with the New York Yankees (2010-15) and Los Angeles Dodgers (2016-18).
Finally, Rafael Chaves was promoted to director, pitching development, after spending the last four seasons as pitching coordinator. Also, Carlos Arroyo (roving pitching coach), Andy Abad (outfield coordinator), Ernie Whitt (catching coordinator), Rob Ducey (baserunning and bunting coordinator), Joe Rauch (athletic training & rehabilitation coordinator), Furey Leva (strength and conditioning coordinator), Ben Werthan (minor league information coordinator), Josh Lipman (video coordinator), Hannah Huesman (mental skills coach) and Ray Burris (rehab pitching coach) will all return for the 2019 season.