As the old saying goes, “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.” Well, the Phillies seem to be implementing that strategy with their new hire for hitting coach, Joe Dillon.
As Salisbury states, Joe Dillon is coming from the World Series Champion Washington Nationals. With the Nats, Dillon was the assistant hitting coach under Kevin Long for the past 2 seasons.
Long carries a connection with new Phillies’ skipper Joe Girardi as he was the hitting coach with the Yankees under Girardi for 7 seasons.
Long has gone on record vouching for Dillon, stating ”
I’ve got the best assistant in baseball.”
The new hitting coach obviously has a connection with Bryce Harper, too, whom he helped post 100+ runs for the first time since 2015.
Dillon has been noted as being able to balance old-school hitting techniques and new-school analytics. You can read more about Dillon here in a piece from the Washington Post.
Dillon will be replacing Charlie Manuel who stepped in as interim hitting coach late in the season after John Mallee was relieved of his duties.
Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
