Phillies general manager Matt Klentak is staking his future and the rebuild’s on an unconventional hire.
The Phillies have named Gabe Kapler as their next manager, offering him the job over Triple-A manager Dusty Wathan and former Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell.
Kapler, currently the Los Angeles Dodgers’ director of player development, offers an eclectic background and embodies the new-age philosophy within Major League Baseball. And with the Phillies’ increasing commitment to analytics, Kapler is a good fit for a franchise that believes it’s on the verge of going from a rebuilding team to a contending team.
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“On behalf of the entire Phillies organization, I am very pleased to welcome Gabe Kapler to Philadelphia,” Klentak said in a statement. “Gabe has a track record of leadership, winning, progressive thinking and working with young players, and we fully believe that he is the right person to guide this organization into the future.”
Kapler’s limited coaching experience still makes this hire riskier than, say, Wathan, who’s been a minor-league manager since 2008, or Farrell, who led the Red Sox to a World Series title in 2013.
Kapler managed the Red Sox’s Single-A Greenville affiliate in 2007 during a brief retirement from his playing career and managed Team Israel for the 2013 World Baseball Classic qualifier. That’s it. However, Kapler’s limited experience didn’t prevent him from finishing runner-up to Dave Roberts for the Dodgers’ managerial opening in the 2015 offseason.
Kapler, 42, is the Phillies’ youngest manager since 38-year-old Terry Francona was hired in 1997. That also represents the last time the Phillies hired a manager who had no connections to the organization. He’s thethird-youngest active manager in MLB, behind only the San Diego Padres’ Andy Green (40) and the Tampa Bay Rays’ Kevin Cash (39).
“I’m equal parts honored, humbled and excited by the opportunity with the Phillies, an elite franchise in a city rich in history, tradition, sports excellence and with amazingly passionate fans,” Kapler said. “I believe there is no better place to build a winning environment, and I take that task very seriously.”
Kapler played 12 seasons in the majors with six different teams, winning a World Series title in 2004 with the Red Sox.
He possesses some similarities to the two managers currently in the World Series. The Houston Astros’ A.J. Hinch secured the skipper job with the Arizona Diamondbacks without prior manager experience. Like Kapler, he was Arizona’s farm director before being named the club’s manager in 2009. Although Hinch only lasted 1 ½ seasons, his four seasons as the Padres’ vice president of professional scouting set up this opportunity to manage the Astros.
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As for the Dodgers’ Roberts, his coaching experience included three seasons as the Padres’ first base coach and two seasons as their bench coach.
Now more than ever, there’s no single route to becoming an MLB manager.
Gabe Kapler celebrates with the crowd after his Red Sox defeated the Angels to sweep the 2004 ALDS. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
But Kapler’s fluency in analytics and belief in their importance certainly played a pivotal role in earning the Phillies’ job. The front office needs someone who can properly convey to players the importance of analytics and how they can help them on and off the field. Between his communication skills and analytics background, Kapler can effectively handle that balance.
“Whenever we experiment with a new plan, whether it’s a new delivery tweak, approach at the plate, or something more radical, there will be a period of discomfort. That’s natural,” Kapler said in an interview with Baseball Prospectus in 2016. “However, we ensure that any of our adjustments are well reasoned and backed by evidence, and we aim to communicate not just the ‘what’ but the ‘how’ and the ‘why.’
“We spend a lot of time working to lay foundations of trust over weeks and months, encouraging mental resilience in our players and staff, and emphasize that we can trust in the process. Results will come in time.”
Over the last three years, analytics have become particularly important to ownership partner John Middleton, further solidifying why Kapler was so highly regarded by the highest levels of the front office.
During Klentak’s introductory press conference on October 26, 2015, Middleton acknowledged the Phillies’ deficiency in analytics in a sport where it’d taken on greater importance.
“There is no change in my attitude about the importance of analytics and the importance of getting moving on it as an organization as rapidly as possible,” Middleton said that day.
Since then, the organization has overhauled the department, including the development of its own proprietary computer information system known as the Phillies Holistic Information Location (PHIL). Team president Andy MacPhail referenced the organization’s growth on October 3, explaining that its big-league analytics group has gone from one person when he arrived to 14.
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“It’s a passion of our managing partner John Middleton that we leave no stone unturned when it comes to analytics and that is our intention,” MacPhail said at the time.
Interestingly, MacPhail also brought up that Klentak was going to focus this offseason on how to incorporate analytics into the Phillies’ player development.
“There are a lot of exciting technologies out there that can assist and instruct you and we have to get on it, and one area that is exploding in our sport is sports science,” MacPhail said. “Pick up a Blue Jay media guide, and they have an entire page almost devoted to sports science.
“We need to make sure that we do everything we can as an organization to keep our players on the field. They are no good to us – or to themselves and their career – if they aren’t on the field.”
Guess who again checks those boxes?
Beyond his three seasons leading the Dodgers’ player development department, Kapler is committed to players eating healthy. Before the 2015 season, Kapler implemented a nutrition program for the big-league club all the way through the Dodgers’ minor-league system that involved only eating organic food. Kapler also has a health and fitness blog, KapLifestyle.com, where he promotes healthy eating and nutrition.
On his blog, Kapler touts that while working as an analyst at Fox Sports (2013-14), he combined “an extensive playing background with an affinity for advanced baseball metrics, providing viewers with in-depth commentary and insight delivered in an understandable fashion.”
His diverse experience, which includes writing for Baseball Prospectus, a sabermetrics-inclined site, in 2013, will help Kapler bring new ideas and perspectives to the job. Surrounding himself with experienced staff will be important as he navigates in-game strategies and handles a young but talented clubhouse.
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Kapler’s a bold hire by the Phillies and Klentak but finding a like-minded manager should help the organization more effectively implement its philosophy in the clubhouse.
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Also see: Key takeaways and questions raised from Gabe Kapler’s hiring
Top photo: Gabe Kapler is introduced as the manager of the Greenville Drive, a Single-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, in February 2007. Kapler retired as a major league player in 2006 before managing in the minors, but would return to play three more seasons in the majors — 2008-10. (Photo by Tom Priddy/Icon SMI/Icon Sport Media via Getty Images)
