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This is a longer post than in prior years given the complete overhaul of the coaching staff.
New Players (Under 60/Over 90 Division)
- #4 Ryan Flaherty - Flaherty takes over the number that Andres Blanco wore the past four seasons.
- #9 Adam Rosales - Bullpen coach John McLaren wore this number for the Phillies in 2017.
- #12 Will Middlebrooks - Middlebrooks assumes the number associated with former Phillies coach Mickey Morandini.
- #21 Collin Cowgill - Clay Buchholz briefly wore this number last season.
- #30 Matt McBride - Cameron Perkins most recently wore this number last season.
- #33 Drew Hutchison - This number opened up when pitching coach Rick Kranitz switched to #39.
- #40 Tommy Hunter - Former hitting coach Matt Stairs wore this number in 2017.
- #41 Carlos Santana - Santana has worn this number his entire career and with Brock Stassi headed to the Twins, there wasn't even a need to negotiate for it.
- #93 Pat Neshek - If Neshek has explained his reasoning for his new high number, I've missed it so far. He wore #17 during his stint last season with the club before being traded to the Rockies. He's the first person in franchise history to wear #93.
- #3 Jose Flores - Oddly enough, this number was vacant all last season. David Lough last wore the number in 2016.
- #8 John Mallee - New hitting coach Mallee takes over the number that rightfully only belongs to Juan Samuel.
- #22 Gabe Kapler - Bob McClure wore this number the past four seasons. Interestingly enough, Kapler never wore the number during his 12-year big league career.
- #35 Jim Gott - Gott becomes the first person to wear #35 since Cole Hamels departed for the Rangers in mid-2015.
- #45 Chris Young - The new assistant pitching coach takes over Pete Mackanin's old number.
- #58 Pedro Guerrero - Jeremy Hellickson's number goes to the new assistant hitting coach.
- #59 Rob Thomson - This number became available when Mark Leiter, Jr. switched to #31.
- #62 Dusty Wathan - Patrick Schuster briefly wore this number in 2016.
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| 1998 Phillies Team Issue #31 |
- #15 Andrew Knapp - Knapp wore #34 last season and the Phillies announced that no one would wear that number in 2018 in honor of Roy Halladay.
- #31 Mark Leiter, Jr. - This is kind of cool. Leiter assumes the number his father wore for the Phillies in 1997 and 1998. Hyun Soo Kim sported the number last season.
- #39 Rick Kranitz - Kranitz swapped the #33 he's worn the past two season for #39.
- #46 Adam Morgan - Morgan had worn #39, but he's now switched to #46. Jesen Therrien and Jeanmar Gomez wore #46 last season.
If not for Neshek, non-roster invitee Nick Rickles would win the honors with his #86.
Numbers Available - Unofficially Retired Division
The Phillies have a cool, yet unofficial policy of not handing out the uniform number of recently departed players (or coaches) who had been with the team for a while, and left a significant legacy with the franchise. I'm including #25 on the list below as this may be the Phillies paying tribute to recent Hall of Fame inductee Jim Thome.
#6 Ryan Howard
#10 Larry Bowa and Darren Daulton
#11 Jimmy Rollins
#13 Freddy Galvis
#25 Jim Thome (no offense to Daniel Nava, who wore the number in 2017)
#26 Chase Utley
#34 Roy Halladay
Number Available - Up for Grabs Division
And then there is the one stray number that just hasn't found a new home yet. #54 was worn by both Casey Fien and Kevin Siegrist last season and it's the only number between 1 and 60, and not unofficially retired, currently up for grabs. Non-roster invitee Fernando Abad may end up wearing #54, as he's currently numberless on the Phillies website.
Don't Forget Us
The Phillies went the extra mile and list out the following additional coaches/staff on the Coaches portion of their website - #81 Craig Driver (bullpen catcher/receiving coach), #82 Bob Stumpo (bullpen catcher/catching coach), #87 Sam Fuld (Major League player information coordinator) and #95 Mike Calitri (manager, advanced scouting)
2013 New Numbers
2014 New Numbers - Part One and Part Two
2015 New Numbers
2016 New Numbers - Part One and Part Two
2017 New Numbers
2018 New Numbers
2014 New Numbers - Part One and Part Two
2015 New Numbers
2016 New Numbers - Part One and Part Two
2017 New Numbers
2018 New Numbers
5 comments:
Always a fun post to read, and it was an especially long post this year. As for Neshek, here is a funny story about his jersey number 17: https://www.thegoodphight.com/2017/12/14/16779446/pat-neshek-trolled-us-all-with-a-weird-rhys-hoskins-number-switcheroo
I look forward to hearing why he took #93. If I had to guess, knowing he is such a huge baseball fan himself, I’d say it is as a tribute to the 1993 Phillies.
What is the difference between a "catching coach" and a "receiving coach"?!?!?!?
See, I would have said #8 belongs to Tony Taylor or Bob Boone. :)
Year after year, your site provides a wealth of Phillies information. Thanks for your efforts!
Re the difference between catching coach and receiving coach, it's simple. Craig Driver, Receiving Coach, will work with Alshon Jeffery, Zach Ertz, Torrey Smith, etc., if they come to camp like Jason Kelce did.
wileybb - Thank you!
Steve and Jim - I'm hoping they're both just co-catching coaches and Kapler hasn't actually come up with some weird saber-distinction between catching and receiving!
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