According to Bob Nightengale, the team has hired Bobby Dickerson to take over as their new infield coach. This is the second coaching hire in the last 10 days, bolstering their coaching staff in the early stages of the off-season. Bobby Dickerson has most recently worked with the San Diego Padres, and will now take over on infield duties for the Phillies in the upcoming season.

The Phillies defense struggled in the 2020-2021 season, with stupid errors and bad mental mistakes being the main faults. Didi Gregorious took a major step back defensively, Alec Bohm played a below-average third base, and the team just didn’t have a consistent defense in general, something that you need to be a contender. How much of that is on coaching? I don’t know.

Juan Castro will not be returning to his infield coach role, as the team dismissed him along with Joe Dillon before their season finale. The infield was due for a change at the coaching spot, with Phillies infielders sitting at a whopping 23rd ranked in the league in Outs Above Average (-15), according to StatCast.

Bobby Dickerson might sound like a familiar name, because it is. He served as the Phillies infield coach in 2019 and left the team for the Padres for one year. The Padres were sort of blowing everything up, and Dickerson was included in the teams’ list of firings.

The Phillies have a lot of work to do this offseason, with their big focus being solving their payroll situation, and getting the best talent possible on this roster. But they are hitting the phones in hopes to upgrade their coaching staff, as Bobby Dickerson will be returning to the team to take his role back as the team’s infield coach.

Ring it.

Mandatory Credit: The San Diego Union-Tribune