Kevin Long and Bobby Dickerson are OUT as Phillies begin to shake up coaching staff around Mattingly

On the same day the Phillies brought back Don Mattingly through 2028, they started gutting the staff around him.

Hitting coach Kevin Long and infield coach Bobby Dickerson will not return next season, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia. The team has a press conference Thursday morning and hasn’t made it official, but don’t expect a reversal.

NEWS: Hitting Coach Kevin Long and Infield Coach Bobby Dickerson will not return to the Phillies coaching staff in 2027, according to @NBCSPhilly. pic.twitter.com/CgmtLnTlu1

— Phillies Tailgate (@PhilsTailgate) October 14, 2026

On the surface, this is the first real accountability we’ve seen from this organization all fall. Look a little closer and it’s the same story as always. The people below Dave Dombrowski pay for the season, and Dombrowski keeps his seat.

Don Mattingly is back with the Phillies through 2028 and it’s getting more difficult to believe any real changes are coming >>

For an organization that’s spent all fall refusing to hold anyone responsible for anything, this is the first sign that somebody upstairs noticed what happened on the field this year. It’s just a shame the accountability stopped at the coaching staff.

Kevin Long Was Overdue Anyways

There was no saving Long after what this offense did. In 2025, the Phillies were fourth in the majors with a .759 OPS and near the top of the league with a .258 average. This year, they fell to 22nd in OPS at .707 and 21st in average at .240. Same core, same lineup, and one of the best offenses in baseball turned into a bottom-third group in twelve months.

Then the Wild Card Series happened, and the Phillies scored eight runs in three games against the Braves. When the bats go that quiet in October, the hitting coach is the first one out the door. That’s how it works.

Long’s run in Philly was a lot more good than bad. He came over from the Nationals in October 2021, and his five seasons here included the 2022 World Series run and an offense that stayed among the most productive in the sport through 2025. He’s got rings with the 2009 Yankees and 2019 Nationals and ran the Mets’ hitters too. This isn’t some guy who stumbled into the job.

He’s also the reason Kyle Schwarber is a Phillie. The Cubs non-tendered Schwarber after he hit .188 in 2020, and Long rebuilt his swing in Washington the following year. Then he lobbied the Phillies to sign him. Schwarber has since signed two contracts here worth $229 million combined, and when he agreed to his five-year, $150 million deal last winter, he pushed the club to keep Long. The Phillies signed Long through 2028.

So the Phillies just dumped Schwarber’s guy two years early, months after paying Schwarber like the centerpiece of this franchise. I’m sure that’ll go over great in the clubhouse.

Dickerson’s Infield Fell Apart:

Dickerson’s exit is tougher to swallow, because he did some of the best coaching work this franchise has seen in years. He started his second stint as infield coach in 2022 after holding the job in 2019 and spending two seasons in San Diego. He turned Alec Bohm from a disaster at third base into a playable major league infielder.

What he did with Trea Turner was even more impressive. Turner was minus-8 Outs Above Average across his first two seasons in Philly. In 2025, he put up 17 OAA and finished in the 99th percentile of all MLB fielders. That’s one of the biggest defensive turnarounds in baseball, and Dickerson was right in the middle of it. Bryson Stott also turned into the most dependable glove on the infield on his watch.

Then 2026 wiped it all out. The Phillies’ infield went from plus-20 OAA in 2025 to minus-11 this season, a 31-out swing according to Statcast. Thirty-one outs given away is a death sentence for a pitching staff that was already thin and a bullpen that couldn’t hold anything. Dickerson’s track record earned him a lot of rope. A collapse that big used it all up.

The Accountability Stops at the Wrong Desk:

Taken on their own, both moves are defensible. The offense cratered, the defense cratered, and the coaches responsible for each are gone. Fine.

Here’s the problem. Long and Dickerson survived Joe Girardi, Rob Thomson and the switch to Mattingly, and now they’re out while the man who built this roster is getting extended. Long didn’t decide to stand pat at the deadline. Dickerson didn’t trade for Brooks Raley. Neither of them looked at an aging, thin roster and declared it good enough. That was Dombrowski, and he’s the one getting rewarded.

New voices in the cage and on the infield might help. But firing the coaches while the roster builder gets a new contract isn’t a reset. It’s the Phillies finding someone else to take the hit, again.

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