Phillies manager Gabe Kapler: Criticism by ESPN’s Alex Rodriguez ‘doesn’t ring true to me’

Kapler also sidestepped a question about an Inquirer column that questioned his coaching staff's ability to develop Phillies players.

Phillies manager Gabe Kapler (right) dismissed criticism of his decision-making by ESPN analyst Alex Rodriguez.Read moreESPN Images, Yong Kim / Staff Photographer / ESPN Images, Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Rob Tornoe

Published Aug. 14, 2019, 11:09 a.m. ET

During his weekly interview on 94.1 WIP, Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said ESPN analyst Alex Rodriguez’s criticism of his decision making during Sunday’s loss to the San Francisco Giants “doesn’t ring true to me.”

In the bottom of the eighth inning, with two outs and a runner on second base, Kapler elected to pitch to the hot Kevin Pillar instead of walking him to face the struggling Brandon Crawford. The result? Pillar broke off a triple on a pitch from Phillies starter-turned-reliever Nick Pivetta, driving in what ended up being the game-winning run.

“You have a base open ... there’s no need for the hot Pillar to get a pitch this good in this situation. Walk him, pitch to Crawford. That’s a mistake by Gabe Kapler,” Rodriguez said. “Careless managing, even more careless pitching for the Phillies.”

Kapler defended his decision to pitch to Pillar to WIP host Angelo Cataldi Wednesday morning, noting that he heard about Rodriguez’s criticism “pretty quickly.”

“I think A-Rod, who was my teammate in Texas a long, long time ago, put a lot of emphasis on Pillar being hot and Crawford being cold ... Frankly, those hot streaks have never been reliable for game planning purposes,” Kapler said. “Crawford has had more success off of Pivetta in the past. Nick is generally stronger versus right than he is versus left. Crawford’s swing plays against pitches better versus Nick’s pitches than Pillar’s does. And obviously Nick didn’t execute his pitch, and the results were pretty bad.”

“But to suggest the decision to go after Pillar versus Craford lacked care just doesn’t ring true to me,” Kapler added.

Cataldi also asked Kapler about a column written by my colleague Bob Brookover, which outlined how Kapler and his coaching staff have not helped Phillies’ players improve this season.

Here’s Kapler’s response:

If there’s one thing we’ve learned over many years of baseball … it’s that young players really don’t develop linearly. We can look back and see development steps forward. We can see development steps backwards. But it’s always a retrospective look. For every player that takes a step forwards and back, you’ll find a unique reason they took that step. We do ourselves a disservice trying to fit players into a box market development. I think our best time is spent trying to find out what each player needs… in that moment in time.

The Phillies will take on the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park, where former manager Charlie Manuel will return to the bench as the team’s interim hitting coach. As my colleague Scott Lauber points out, it’s six years to the day that Manuel was fired as the team’s manager, and would appear to put pressure on Kapler’s performance the remainder of the season.

Kapler told Cataldi he is “really not worried” about being replaced by Manuel, and only sees benefits to the addition of Manuel.

“I understand why some fans may see it that way,” Kapler said. “Charlie is the most popular, the most beloved manager in Phillies history, and I’m looking forward to being able to learn from his experience and hear his voice.”

Listen to Kapler’s full interview on WIP here: