There’s a lot of attention being given to what the Philadelphia Phillies might do this offseason on the player side, but there was a major announcement made by the team’s press release regarding some changes to the front office.
The Phillies have promoted Preston Mattingly to vice president and general manager after Sam Fuld is stepping aside to pursue his MBA at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School where he will transition into the president of business operations upon his graduation in May 2026.
That is major news.
Fuld had been the VP and GM under Dave Dombrowski the last four seasons.
After he retired from his eight-year Major League playing career in 2017, he immediately took a job with Philadelphia where he was the player information coordinator under then-skipper Gabe Kapler. His named kept popping up in managerial searches before he either turned them down or was no longer being considered.
2020 was when he was named GM, and under his and Dombrowski’s leadership, this franchise has completely turned things around to where they are perennial World Series contenders.
Mattingly is the son of baseball legend Don Mattingly, and despite him trying to follow his father’s footsteps of being a player himself, he never reached The Show after having a minor league career from 2006-2011.
After that, Mattingly went back to college on a basketball scholarship at Lamar University, and upon his graduating in 2016, he returned to the world of baseball as the manager of scouting and then the coordinator of major league advance scouting and game planning with the San Diego Padres until the Phillies called in 2021.
He become Philadelphia’s director of player development before being promoted to assistant general manager in 2023, and now is taking over as GM under Dombrowski.
“The continued growth of Sam and Preston is remarkable. Both of them do a fantastic job, and these promotions provide continuity in the organization for years to come,” the presient of baseball operations said as part of his statement.
Additionally, the Phillies announced some other moves.
Luke Murton was promoted to director of player development and Edward Gonzalez was promoted to director of hitting development.
