The Philadelphia Phillies and Don Mattingly recently hired former Boston Red Sox hitting coach Peter Fatse, replacing former long-time hitting coach Kevin Long. Here is why Fatse will help the inconsistent offense that just cannot get out of their own way or make adjustments. A fresh new perspective for hitting was needed overall as well.
Three Keys On How Hitting Coach Peter Fatse Can Help the Phillies’ Offense
1. New Approach Technique
With Fatse being hired as the new hitting coach, a new approach and technique will be brought to this lineup that is desperately needed overall. Fatse should be able to have the offense cut down on chasing out-of-the-zone pitches, which was a high number during the 2026 season overall, and should have the team grind out at-bats, which the lineup really didn’t do much during the regular season and postseason.
The Phillies at one point as well could not hit a fastball consistently down the middle, as some in the lineup would just look at the ball instead of hitting the fastball. Hitting a fastball for the Phillies ranked 19th in Major League Baseball. But would rather chase a ball outside the zone, and that’s where pitchers found the lineup’s weakness a lot of the time, without really having to worry about long at-bats due to the fact that the Phillies do not take pitches.
However, Fatse should be able to help out the struggling line up with new approaches that should help them take pitches and grind out at bats.
In Boston, the team’s lineup seemed to hit a lot of consistent line drives and drove in runners in scoring position. The Red Sox in 2025 under Fatse ranked ninth in batting average. Then, for the 2026 season the Red Sox ranked 18th.
2.Fixing Inconsistent Swings and Lineup Slumps
The Phillies’ lineup ran into a lot of slumps as a team all at once, and the line up had inconsistent swings due to bad technique that may have been taught. Meaning, the lineups’ swings weren’t through the zone quickly enough, or batters would foul off a lot of pitches and not hit home runs because of the angle of the swing, which again attributed to very quick innings and not letting the starting pitchers take a break in the dug out.
Philadelphia, as an offense, ranked 16th overall in MLB and had a 30.2% chase rate, which ranked 27th overall. So clearly, fixing these issues that keep occurring needs to be done by Fatse, and there is some confidence that it will be done.
The lineup slumps were way too often in the regular season, and there were no real adjustments coming from the past coaches who were let go and couldn’t figure out what was causing them to have so many lineup slumps. Even star guys on the team couldn’t get a hit or struck out too many times.
3. Teaching More Consistent Hitting Techniques
There are players in the lineup that would look like all-stars for the first three months of the season, then would lose their swing entirely and revert back to what is making them struggle and barely make contact with the ball overall.
One name that comes to mind is starting outfielder Brandon Marsh. He had an All-Star season with a .309 batting average, but after that early performance, his number dipped pretty low to a .184 batting average, where he was almost not playable in the lineup. Marsh was also hitting well against left-handed pitching as well before going back to bad hitting techniques and habits, Marsh could not hit left-handed pitching well in the past, but again, that didn’t last too much longer as well.
The Last Word
A new voice was needed overall in the Phillies’ dugout from an offensive standpoint and being a more improved offense for the 2027 season.
Main Image: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
