Phillies sign hitting coach Kevin Long to a two-year extension

The hitting coach had an impact on Edmundo Sosa and Brandon Marsh, trade-deadline acquisitions brought in for their defensive skills, in particular.

Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long, during batting practice in the wild-card round against the Cardinals, had an impact on multiple players.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Alex Coffey

Published Nov. 12, 2022, 5:50 p.m. ET

The Phillies made their first big move of the offseason on Saturday, signing hitting coach Kevin Long to a two-year extension. Long is now signed through the 2025 season, according to a report from MLB.com.

Long joined the Phillies in October 2021, just a few months before MLB’s lockout began. He came from the Washington Nationals, where he served as hitting coach from 2018-21, and worked closely with Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber. Long also worked with Trea Turner, who is a free-agent target of the Phillies this season, for the four seasons they overlapped in Washington.

Long has worked as a big league hitting coach since 2007, beginning his career with the New York Yankees. He has a proven track record of helping hitters become the best versions of themselves, and has brought that to the Phillies this season. Long worked closely with Edmundo Sosa, a player who was acquired at the trade deadline for his defense, and raised his average from .189 with St Louis in the first half, to .315 with the Phillies in the second half.

Long had a similar impact on center fielder Brandon Marsh, who, like Sosa, was acquired at the trade deadline to improve the Phillies’ defense. Long approached Marsh the day he arrived in Philadelphia and began working on the center fielder’s timing at the plate. Marsh said he felt an “immediate impact,” and the numbers back that up. Marsh hit .226/.284/.353 with the Angels in the first half of this season, and .288/.319/.455 with the Phillies in the second half.

Long is not just a great communicator but also has a knack for identifying a hitter’s obstacles and figuring out how to fix them. His extension won’t draw as much attention as a big name free-agent signing, but it should not be overlooked, either.

“He’s positive,” Sosa said of Long in September. “Always positive. We have fun. St. Louis was fun too. We all worked hard, but that’s in the past. I feel that we’re on the same page here. And we’re working together well.

“The hitting coach in St. Louis [Jeff Albert] helped me a lot in my career, but I feel like what I’m working on with Kevin is working super well. So I have to keep following his workouts, his drills and what he stresses the most: to believe in the routine that he’s got for me.”