PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - APRIL 28: Don Mattingly, interim manager for the Philadelphia Phillies, looks on after a 7-0 win against the San Francisco Giants at Citizens Bank Park on April 28, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
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The Philadelphia Phillies enjoyed some initial success after the front office made a dramatic change to try and save the season.
On Tuesday, the team announced that it had replaced manager Rob Thomson with bench coach Don Mattingly and, later that day, the team earned a win against the San Francisco Giants.
And as the Phillies look to keep that momentum going, Mattingly has already instituted at least one notable change in how the team prepares.
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On Wednesday, shortly before a postponement was announced, members of the media noticed that the Phillies were doing bunt-specific drills in the middle of batting practice, and Mattingly explained that he will be looking to work in more of that and more pitcher fielding practice (PFP) following some poor offensive results and defensive lapses to open the season.
“Bunting’s really going to be part of the process,” Mattingly said, per a video posted on X by Crossing Broad’s Luke Arcaini. “It’s like making that a regular thing, I mean that’s not me, I think our thoughts were the whole staff, is to do that regularly, be semi-regularly with PFPs.”
Though some additional bunting and defensive work is unlikely to transform the Phillies overnight, it does point to significant changes that Mattingly would like to see from the team following some criticism of his predecessor.
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And former reliever Matt Strahm was openly critical about the lack of PFP work that the team engaged in last year before he was traded away to the Kansas City Royals.
“As soon as it left his hand, my initial thought was, ‘Why didn’t I, as a veteran guy, bring up the fact that we need to do PFPs?’” Strahm said shortly after reliever Orion Kerkering made a critical defensive error in last year’s playoff series against the Dodgers, per MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki. “It’s something that you can’t expect to do right every time if you don’t practice it enough. Or at all.”
By bringing in a renewed focus on some fundamental preparation, Mattingly could be looking to address some of the most apparent shortcomings that the team suffered under Thomson. It might not be the flashiest change in his first days as the new skipper, but it has been a new focus that some fans and at least one former player have called for.
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