Phillies finalize Joe Girardi’s coaching staff for 2021 season

The Phillies will have two coaches instead of three assigned to this season’s pitching staff. The club finished last season with baseball’s worst bullpen in 90 years.

Phillies manager Joe Girardi's 2021 coaching staff was finalized on Monday.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

by Matt Breen

Published Jan. 11, 2021, 4:55 p.m. ET

The Phillies finalized manager Joe Girardi’s coaching staff Monday afternoon for the 2021 season, deciding to forgo an assistant pitching coach for the first time in five years.

Dave Lundquist, the team’s assistant pitching for the last two seasons, was named bullpen coach and Mike Calitri, the team’s manager of advance scouting since 2019, was named a quality assurance coach.

Lundquist, who replaces Jim Gott, is expected to assist pitching coach Caleb Cotham with preparing the pitching staff, but his in-game duties will be in the bullpen. The Phillies finished last season with baseball’s worst bullpen in 90 years and their starting rotation is still not complete for 2021, but they will have two coaches instead of three assigned to this season’s pitching staff.

Calitri’s position follows the trend of other teams hiring quality control or quality assurance coaches who, as described by the Mets, “serve on the club’s major league field staff as a conduit between the front office, coaching staff and players on issues including game preparation, strategy and analytics.”

The Phillies hired Cotham in November after Bryan Price announced his retirement following one season with the team. Cotham, a 33-year old former major-league pitcher with a data-driven mindset, is the Phillies fifth pitching coach in five seasons. He was Cincinnati’s assistant pitching coach the last two seasons.

Also on the Phillies coaching staff are Greg Brodzinski (bullpen catcher/catching coach), Juan Castro (infield coach), Joe Dillon (hitting coach), Paco Figueroa (first base coach), Pedro Guerrero (assistant hitting coach), Bobby Meacham (coaching assistant), Bob Stumpo (bullpen catcher/catching coach), Rob Thomson (bench coach), and Dusty Wathan (third base coach).