Category: Sports

When Preston Mattingly took a job with the Padres in 2017, his famous dad, Don, was managing the Marlins. After Preston joined the Phillies’ front office in 2022, Don began coaching the Blue Jays.

“You’re in the same industry,” Preston said, “but you’re light-years apart.”

Over the last few years, the Mattinglys figure they were together for a total of about 10 days. So, they need not be reminded, especially on Father’s Day weekend, of the uniqueness of their proximity as the first father-son manager-general manager combination in baseball history.

Last week, Preston Mattingly joined Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast, to discuss working with his dad. In addition, he talked about Andrew Painter’s demotion to triple A, the state of the Phillies’ farm system, and preparing for the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

Watch the full interview below and subscribe to the Phillies Extra podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Q: The fastball was really Andrew Painter’s bread-and-butter pitch in the minors, especially before he had Tommy John elbow surgery in 2023. Major league hitters are hitting .404 and slugging .660 against it. Why do you think he struggled so much with it during his first experience in the big leagues?

A: Yeah, it’s a good question. I think a lot of different factors go into it, whether it’s his arm slot … I think it ultimately comes down to command. I think when you’re behind in counts, and when you throw balls in the middle of the plate, no matter how hard you’re throwing or who you are, you’re going to get hit. But there’s definitely some things we can clean up in his development plan that he’s going to be working on. But we’ve seen him in the past to where he can command the ball to all four quadrants, the shape on the fastball pre-injury was significantly different, so we’re working as an organization to get back to that.

Q: So, where do you guys go from here for a fifth starter?

A: I think, as an organization, we’ve done a pretty good job over the last few years of coming up with guys, either optionable guys or depth type of arms. I think all options are on the table right now. We feel really good about our pitching, in general, about our pitching depth in terms of our relievers. So, I think there’s different ways to get creative in how we do it. We’re still talking through it as a group, but I’m sure we’ll sit down and put the pieces together how they fall out.

Q: There have been two notable injuries within the last week in Adolis García and Brad Keller. How much do you feel like the depth of the 40-man roster is going to be tested here between those injuries and now Painter going to the minor leagues?

A: Yeah, I’ll touch on the pitching, the Keller side first. Obviously, we felt [his right forearm strain] was pretty minor, and something we, as an organization, we wanted to knock out, not let linger. So, don’t expect him to be out long term. We have some other guys coming back too, as well. Kyle Backhus shouldn’t be too far away here. So, in terms of relievers, we felt really good. I already touched on Andy, and how we’re going to get creative to do that. And then touching on the Adolis injury, obviously unfortunate. He was an elite defender in right field, showed a little bit of strides with the bat, and was getting to some power before the [strained lat muscle near his right shoulder]. But I think we, as an organization, believe in Gabriel Rincones. We’re excited to see him, a lot of good underlying skills that translate to major league success. He’s got to go out and do it. But we feel like he’s a guy that hits the ball really hard. In the minor leagues he put together really quality at-bats, controls the strike zone, and we think he’s got a chance to have some power.

Q: I think there are two factors that make this trade deadline on Aug. 3 fascinating. One is that, in the American League, you have only five teams that are over .500 right now, so a lot of teams that are ordinarily leaning toward the sell column are hanging in there. But really the one that I’m fascinated by is this looming labor fight that we have at the end of the season. Is there any sense yet for whether that’s going to change the market dynamics at all?

A: It’s not something we talk about internally. I think it kind of depends. The next six weeks will [determine] which way teams fall. Obviously, it’s pretty quiet right now. You’re still talking to teams and checking in, and more just having conversations to kind of lay some groundwork. But pretty quiet right now. You have the draft coming, too, so teams are having their focus in a lot of different areas. But I’m sure over the next two to three weeks to a month, things will start to pick up a little bit.

Q: What was that first conversation like with your dad after Dave Dombrowski made the decision to elevate him to interim manager after Rob Thomson was fired?

A: It was definitely a unique situation. I know Dave spoke to my dad and talked to him about stepping into the role. I followed him up with a call, and just kind of made sure he was comfortable. And I think the great thing is we’re both here for the same reason, which is to help the organization win a championship. He’s been around the game a really long time. He’s built a lot of relationships with the players in our clubhouse already, so it’s definitely been unique. But it’s been really gratifying, too. I think I’ve said this a couple times, but getting texts from people around the league, in the moment it may have been a little bit … awkward, is maybe the word. But I think after the first couple days it was kind of business as usual. A lot of people around the league said some great things. ‘Just enjoy the moment. It’s not every day you get to work with your dad. And you’ll look back five or 10 years, 20 years later, and remember how special that was.’ So, I definitely have taken that to heart. He’s been great to work with, along with the rest of our coaching staff. So, yeah, it’s been really fun.

Q: Your dad said something when he was hired as bench coach in January about the importance of establishing trust with the players in the clubhouse, that he wasn’t going to go upstairs and talk to you about what was being said there. How have you two gone about navigating that balance?

A: Yeah, it’s definitely a topic that came up. I think we just want to be prepared. Front offices are pretty involved downstairs. We’re around a lot more, probably, than years ago. Obviously, my dad’s a professional. Things that are between him and the players stay between him and the players. We’re not looking to gather information, and, like I said, we’re just looking to try and win, and so there’s none of that going on.

Q: What has it been like after all those years on opposite sides and different teams in different cities to actually be around each other almost every day?

A: When I was in San Diego, he was in Miami the entire time. I felt like I had two teams to follow. I’ve always followed his teams very closely, probably pretty opinionated on what they should do with their roster, who they should acquire. And then obviously he goes to Toronto and I come to Philly … you feel like you’re in the same industry, but you’re light-years apart. So it’s been great, just the daily conversations. I told somebody a couple weeks ago, over the last three years, just because what I’m doing, what he’s doing, I think I’ve seen him for maybe 10 days. Holidays, a couple days, a special day here, day there. So, it’s been great just to spend time together, have a daily conversation.

I’m sure for him, every off-day at home, he’s come over to my house and enjoyed my family a little bit, which he doesn’t get to see as much. So, just things like that. It’s just really cool to spend time together. Since I left the house at 17, we haven’t really spent much time together. So, it’s just been fun in that regard, and then just working on the same team. Sports are great competition. Working as a group is as good as it gets, so getting to do that with your dad is pretty special.