The Phillies lost a key member of their coaching staff as the Arizona Diamondbacks poached one of the leaders in Philadelphia’s pitching program.
Brian Kaplan, the Phillies’ big-league assistant pitching coach and the club’s director of pitching development for the past three seasons, has been hired as the D-backs pitching coach, the team announced Tuesday. He replaces Brent Strom, who was fired by Arizona last month.
The Phillies previously announced that their entire coaching staff would be back for 2025 prior to Kaplan landing this new role.
Kaplan — a former college pitcher at Notre Dame and the co-founder of Cressey Sports Performance, a training and development facility in Florida — was hired by the Phillies before the 2022 season to serve under pitching coach Caleb Cotham and help guide the direction of their pitching throughout the organization.