It was just a year ago that Matt Stairs moved down from the broadcast booth to the dugout to become the Phillies hitting coach. With former boss Pete Mackanin fired, however, Stairs was a man without a country, but now he’s moved on: the San Diego Padres just hired him as their hitting coach.
The Phillies experienced a nice offensive uptick in the one year Stairs served as hitting coach, with increases in run scoring and on-base percentage. It’s possible the new Phillies manager, whoever he may be, would’ve kept him on both because of that and because he has developed a decent rapport with the young Phillies hitters. A bird in the hand beats two in the bush, of course, so it makes sense that he’s choosing move on.
He’ll have his work cut out for him in San Diego. The Padres were dead last in the majors in runs scored and on-base percentage and were 28th in slugging.
