Phillies name Peter Fatse hitting coach, hire Joe Cronin

The Philadelphia Phillies named Peter Fatse their hitting coach and Joe Cronin an assistant hitting coach, while retaining Edwar Gonzalez in an assistant role, the team announced Tuesday. Fatse replaces Kevin Long, who was fired after the season. The appointments reshape the Phillies’ hitting-coach staff as the team prepares for its next season. Manager Don Mattingly praised Fatse’s communication and collaborative approach in the team announcement. Cronin, a Scarborough, Maine, native, joins the major-league staff after working in player development and hitting strategy for the Boston Red Sox. Fatse had most recently worked as a hitting consultant for the Tampa Bay Rays, a role he began in June, according to reports on his recent career. Before that, he was Boston’s hitting coach and was dismissed in April 2026 along with manager Alex Cora and other coaches. Accounts describe Fatse’s tenure as beginning in 2021 or 2022; he served in the role for parts of five seasons. Cronin joined the Red Sox organization in 2021 as a player-development intern after playing four seasons in the Minnesota Twins organization. He later worked as a development coach for Boston’s Single-A...