Arizona Diamondbacks Hire Away Philadelphia Phillies Pitching Coach

The Philadelphia Phillies will have to replace a departing coach after he was hired away by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Feb 23, 2023; Clearwater, FL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies assistant pitching coach/director of pitching development Brian Kaplan (93) during photo day at BayCare Ballpark / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Despite the disappointing early playoff exit, the Philadelphia Phillies decided to bring back manager Rob Thomson and his entire coaching staff.

For the fanbase, that was largely a surprise considering the abysmal hitting during their second half collapse and in the postseason, but the front office decided they wanted to run things back with the current regime and make roster changes instead of blowing everything up.

However, the Phillies will have to replace someone on this staff after all.

Darragh McDonald of MLB Trade Rumors reported the Arizona Diamondbacks hired Brian Kaplan to become their new pitching coach, replacing Brent Strom who the club announced would not be back after the 2024 campaign ended.

Kaplan has been with Philadelphia since 2019, first joining as an integrative baseball performance consultant before being promoted to his most recent job in 2022 where he was the assistant pitching coach and director of pitching.

There's no doubt that pitching coach Caleb Cotham has done a fantastic job during this recent stretch where the Phillies' pitching staff has led Major League Baseball in fWAR from 2022-24, and it seems like Kaplan was a huge part of it.

How Philadelphia goes about replacing him will be seen.

There's been nothing reported about whether they will look at internal candidates to backfill this opening, or if they will turn to some outside options.

Either way, Kaplan was a massive part of the recent success the Phillies have had from a pitching standpoint during the past three years, so losing him will be a major blow as this team searches to win a World Series title.