New Philadelphia Phillies Minor League Bat Dog Runs Wild First Day on Job

The Class-A Clearwater Threshers debuted a new bat dog on Friday and, well, the pooch still needs some training.

Aug 16, 2023; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; A Philadelphia Phillies cap and glove sit in the dugout during a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. / John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Last month Layla, the bat dog for the Class-A Clearwater Threshers, retired after six years of retrieving bats from home plate.

On Friday, the Philadelphia Phillies affiliate debuted their new bat dog, Lucy May. She just happens to be Layla’s little sister.

It was also Beach Night, during which the Clearwater Threshers become the Clearwater Beach Dogs. In fact, on Fridays dogs are allowed at the ballpark. So Lucy May had some of Layla’s old four-legged fans in the stadium.

For her debut, one of the members of the Threshers’ organization tossed a bat out onto the field for Lucy May to retrieve and christen her new profession. Easy job, right?

Well, she had other idea. She bypassed the bat completed and started running around the infield as the Threshers were warming up. She settled on the infield grass in front of second base and, well, nature called.

The Clearwater Threshers anointed a new bat dog, Lily, tonight.

It didn’t exactly go as planned…

It’s Single-A for the Bat Dogs, too! pic.twitter.com/4gJb3Hk1K4

— Larry Larson (@MLBLarry) August 23, 2024

After she was done, she continued to run around and ran into one of the groundskeepers dragging the infield dirt for a pet.

Fortunately, Layla is still around to mentor her little sister. She was, in fact, on hand to pass the torch, so to speak.

These girls are the stars of the show tonight! Layla will officially pass on her bat dog duties to her little sister, Lucy May 🩵

Both pups will take the field in the middle of the 3rd inning, and Lucy May will make her debut at the last out of the 3rd inning. pic.twitter.com/v6k1B1StU2

— Clearwater Beach Dogs (@Threshers) August 23, 2024

Layla was honored last month when she worked her last game. At 13 years old, her owner, Andrew Davis, said it was time for Layla to hang it up.

For her retirement, the Threshers gave Layla a bone-shaped baseball cake that read “Happy Retirement Layla” and even presented a highlight reel of some of her best fetches on the stadium’s big screen.

Davis and his dogs fell into the gig kind of by accident.

As he told the Tampa Bay Times in advance of Layla’s retirement, he taught her how to fetch him a beer from his refrigerator. Impressed, he sent a clip of the video to the Threshers. Not long after, he heard back with a request.

“They finally reached back out to me,” said Davis. “And they said, ‘That’s a really cool trick. You think your dog could fetch bats?’”

He said it took just a few week to teach Layla how to pick up the bat and return it to the dugout.

After Layla hanged it up, Lucy May went to the “minor leagues,” as Threshers community engagement and media manager Robert Stretch put it.

It looks like Lucy May will need a little more time before she gets called up again.

Clearwater continues its series with Dunedin on Saturday.