Q&A with Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long: 'We need to have better at-bats'

CLEARWATER, Fla. — The wounds were still fresh last October when Dave Dombrowski revealed scant details from five days of organizational meetings that assessed the wreckage from a quick Phillies exit in the National League Division Series. The Phillies, their president of baseball operations said, had to be open-minded about roster changes. He was vague.

Except for one item.

“One thing I would like us to do,” Dombrowski said Oct. 15, “and that’s going to fall into Kevin Long’s hands: I really would like us to use the whole field a little bit more at times.”

None of this surprised Long, the Phillies’ hitting coach, because he was in those meetings. Dombrowski referenced Trea Turner’s observation after Game 4 — “Personally, I think we get ourselves out. I don’t think it matters who’s on the mound.” — while manager Rob Thomson cited how the New York Yankees stacked opposite-field hits during the postseason.

To Long, it is more complicated than that. The Phillies ranked second in the majors last season in hits to the opposite field (354). Their slugging percentage on those hits (.529) ranked third. It is something they did well for six months. But for the second straight October, the lineup was exploited.

There need to be changes — the veteran hitting coach does not dispute that. Long, along with his assistants, Rafael Pena and Dustin Lind, spent the offseason seeing many of the team’s hitters.

“The guys that needed somebody there,” Long said, “we had somebody there for them.”

The groundwork for an important spring has been laid. Before Monday’s first full-squad workout, Long detailed how the Phillies will attempt to alter their approach.

(Answers have been edited for clarity and length.)

Your bosses talked at length about making adjustments with the current personnel — more of an all-fields approach. What does that look like to you?

We’ve got a good team. We’ve done some nice things during the regular season. Even in the playoffs, we’ve done some good things. But for us to get over the top, we’ve got to get a little bit better, individually and collectively as a coaching staff. Maybe it’s pressing guys a little bit more and really getting some buy-in in some areas where we can do a better job.

Trea saying that we got ourselves out … that part of it, we need to stay away from. We need to have better at-bats. We need to make better decisions. And when you make better decisions, you’re probably seeing the ball a little bit deeper. I think that’s what Rob alluded to: If we’re seeing the ball deep, we’re probably going to use the other field.

We’ve got some guys that have made some strides in that area. (Brandon) Marsh has done a really good job. (Alec) Bohm, his decision-making is really, really good. (Bryson) Stott’s is good. We’ve had some guys going the other way. Trea would be the first to tell you: He used to be really, really good at making decisions. So we got to get him back to simplifying his overall process. I’m not too concerned about it because I’ve seen him do it.

Do I need to press him a little bit more, talk to him a little bit more about it? Probably. And I’m going to do that. I’ve seen (Bryce) Harper really good (to the opposite field). But it’s kind of contagious. So the more guys that are kind of bought in — and I don’t want to say guys aren’t bought in because they understand the importance of it. It’s just: How do we get them over the hump?

That’s just bringing it to the forefront more often.

Brandon Marsh had a .792 OPS against right-handed pitching and a .552 OPS versus righties. (Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)

What’s an example? You can’t just say, “We need to use the whole field more.” When you’re trying to get buy-in, what do you discuss?

It is more complicated than that. And it’s more staying on top of it day-to-day. You’re not letting it go for a week. Not letting it go for 10 days. Reel it back in right away. And I’d like to get to the point where we can do that in-game. When we know this pitcher’s not filling up the zone. “OK, we have to come off the throttle here.” We can’t be swinging at everything.

It seemed like the in-game adjustments weren’t —

As quick as maybe they needed to be. And we talk about it before the game. That’s the thing. Like (New York Mets starter Jose) Quintana (in Game 4). We knew that this guy was going to nibble. And we knew if we weren’t stubborn to the strike zone, that he was going to win. And, sure enough, he’s pitching way too deep in the game. He wasn’t even throwing strikes. He didn’t throw two consecutive strikes in the strike zone in his first 70 pitches.

(Quintana threw two straight strikes in the strike zone — coincidentally to the first batter he faced — over his first 78 pitches.)

It was a crazy number because I remember looking at it. Now, he got strikes because we expanded. Dustin, Raffy and I have talked about just being a little bit more forceful. Listen, if we piss them off — at times it’s going to be that. There might be some friction. But if it’s for the betterment of the team and for us to get to where we need to be, then we need to do it.

A devil’s advocate would say: You have a lineup of mostly established guys who are set in their ways. They have had a lot of success doing it their way. How can you make meaningful changes?

We can lean on guys like Stott and Bohm and Marsh to be more superstar-type players instead of guys that kind of help the superstars. I think the world of Marsh. I think the world of Bohm and I think the world of Stott. If they were on another ballclub — and I don’t need to mention names — would they be one of their better players? Absolutely. That should be where they are here. They can help quite a bit.

It’s time for them to turn into those stars, those guys that every team in baseball would want. There’s a lot of teams that want those players. But let’s not rely on Trea to get hot or Bryce or (Kyle) Schwarber. J.T. (Realmuto) is another guy. If he stays healthy and we keep him healthy, I think he’s up for a big year. So there’s another guy that can help us quite a bit.

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Turner, in particular, sticks out because he was super pull-happy, especially down the stretch.

Well, they quit throwing him fastballs. He wasn’t even seeing fastballs. He was swinging at everything. His chase rate went through the window. It just unraveled on him a little bit. But again, I know Trea. I know his heartbeat. I know his pulse. And Thoms is thinking about leading him off. And that plays right into this.

Trea Turner went 3-for-15 with two stolen bases and no extra-base hits in the 2024 NLDS. (Heather Barry / Getty Images)

If you put him leadoff, could it improve his approach?

It’s risky because we have a really good leadoff hitter. There’s no debating that. We win when Kyle is leading off. But does it flip a switch for Trea? And does it help us become a better ballclub? Let’s see.

Turning him into a guy who … let’s just score runs. We need you to score runs. Let’s lead the league. Let’s cause havoc on the basepaths. Let’s control the strike zone. Because the more you can control the strike zone, the more you’re going to be on base. We know what happens when you do that. You’re one of the best players in the league.

We’ve seen it. And what was the difference between earlier in the year and later? His chase rate was at 27, 28 (percent) and it jumped all the way up to the high 30s. When you’re doing that, the game becomes really tough. And he can hit breaking balls. He’s a good off-speed hitter. But you have to swing at good pitches, too.

Trea hit .295. I think he gets stepped on a little bit too much. But I will also say this: He needs to be more consistent as far as his at-bats. He’s fully capable of having a competitive at-bat every single time.

In your mind, what should be the group’s offensive philosophy?

Attacking your strikes. Attacking balls that you can hit well. For instance, anything that’s away from Nick (Castellanos) is not good. He’s more dangerous the closer the ball is to him. Trea is the same way. Force them to come to you. Anything away, give them. Give them. And let’s just see what happens.

There’s guys who do a really, really good job of that. Marsh being one. Schwarber being one. But we need more help there. And these guys are capable of it.

How do you implement that message this spring?

More meetings. More individual meetings. More sitting guys down, having some tough conversations at times. Instead of letting them just keep going, keep going. No, we have to stop immediately and we have to bring it to the forefront. And some guys get really pissed off at that. It’s not comfortable for anybody. And I’m a positive guy.

We were in the top five in every offensive category. Listen, we can always do a little bit better. I want everybody to do their part.

You have always preached being on time for the fastball. But, as teams are throwing fewer and fewer fastballs — especially to your lineup — does that philosophy still work?

The better positioned you are with your body when your foot strikes — the more that you’re on time with that, you can kind of have almost a little separation — the better hitter you’re going to be.

We have to do a better job of controlling our move and holding our energy. That’ll allow us to react to breaking balls a little bit better. And I don’t want us to be a breaking-ball-hitting team. I just want us to be competent.

Almost every pitcher throws more strikes with their fastball than they do their off-speed. So if we get ourselves in a better position that we can take the balls and pounce on some mistake breaking balls, I think we’re right where we need to be. So that’s going to be our focus. That’s going to be what we’re really honing in on with these guys. Getting a little separation. Getting in a better position where we can take some more of those off-speed pitches instead of chasing them. Then we pounce on some of the mistakes because we’re in a better position.

We have really good players that can make these adjustments. … They can do this. Some teams are getting really, really good. The Dodgers are coming off a world championship. So, what are we going to do? We didn’t pick up a ton of guys (this offseason), so we have to take our collective bunch, and we need to find a way to be a little bit more effective. And we’re going to do that.