As the World Series ended, some teams began to make changes for the 2018 season. The Philadelphia Phillies are one of those teams, replacing their former manager with Gabe Kapler.
Recently, the Philadelphia Phillies fired their manager, Pete Makanin. Gabe Kapler was announced to be the new manager for the 2018 Philadelphia Phillies season.
Kapler is coming from the Los Angeles Dodgers’ front office to manage the club. Kapler was the director of player development over the last three years with the Dodgers.
“I think he’s going to fit in well here,” Paul Bendetti, Phillies guest services employee, said. “This is the guy who can turn this ball club around.”
Kapler, 42, is the youngest manager in Phillies franchise history since Terry Francona in 1997.
Kapler played professionally for 12 years, mostly with the Boston Red Sox, as an outfielder. He was selected as the 1,488th player in the 1995 draft by the Detroit Tigers. After being drafted so low, it’s almost unheard of that a player makes it to the Major Leagues at all, let alone for 12 seasons.
As this is the first managing position Kapler has ever had in the major leagues. He does well with baseball analytics, which is important. Kapler was once a manager for Class A Greenville, a Red Sox affiliate in 2007. He also managed Team Israel in the 2013 World Baseball Classic qualifier.
Kapler was once a writer for Baseball Prospectus, which is a website on sabermetrics. The Phillies will need a manager who knows the analytic part of baseball after not being successful in past years. Kapler has also been known to blog about fitness, nutrition and mental health. These will all be positive factors in his managerial style.
“I’ve personally never heard of him, but this season could be interesting for the Phillies,” Joe Suppa, junior business major, said.
The Phillies have one of the best farm systems in baseball. Kapler was formerly in charge of player development with the Dodgers.
The Dodgers minor league system is ranked fourth best in winning percentage throughout baseball and second to only the Phillies in the National League. This could be a turning point for the Phillies going into 2018, as the team is loaded with young prospects such as Nick Williams, J.P. Crawford and Rhys Hoskins.
“I believe there is no better place to build a winning environment and I take that task very seriously,” Gabe Kapler said in a statement.
