The Phillies’ search for a manager didn’t end with Alex Cora, but it did lead them to one of his former coaches.
Philadelphia was interested in the former Boston Red Sox skipper for its manager job, but Cora did not want to work for the Phillies. That pushed the club back to Don Mattingly, who served as Philadelphia’s interim manager this past season after Rob Thomson was fired. Even so, the Phillies added a familiar Cora connection to the staff, hiring Peter Fatse as their new hitting coach, according to The Athletic’s Charlotte Varnes.
Fatse, 39, started his professional coaching career in the Twins organization in 2019, when he worked as Minnesota’s minor league hitting coordinator. He spent just one season in that role before moving to Boston in 2020 as assistant hitting coach. Two years later, he was promoted to hitting coach and stayed there until the Red Sox fired him, Cora and four other coaches last April.
Before getting into coaching, Fatse had a playing career that began when the Milwaukee Brewers drafted him in the 24th round of the 2009 amateur draft out of the University of Connecticut. He played in the Brewers organization through 2010, then went to the independent leagues in 2011 and remained there through 2012.
Fatse also founded his own baseball academy in Palmer, Mass. in 2010, and he had no prior professional coaching experience before joining the Twins in 2019.
His work in Minnesota and Boston gives the Phillies a coach with experience in two different major league environments. During Fatse’s time with the Twins as minor league hitting coordinator, Minnesota’s seven affiliates combined to average 4.51 runs per game and post a .243/.324/.384 slash line. The Triple-A Rochester Red Wings were the most productive of those affiliates, hitting .278/.350/.461 with 174 home runs and scoring 5.64 runs per game on average.
In Boston, Fatse was part of a group that put up mixed results. During his time as the Red Sox’s hitting coach, the club ranked seventh in runs with 3156 and 13th in wRC+ at 103. The team missed the playoffs in his first three seasons as hitting coach, from 2022 through 2024, before reaching the postseason in 2025.
The move also invites some speculation about where Philadelphia’s manager situation could go from here. Mattingly is under contract for just the next two years, and teams do fire managers before deals run out.
The source point here is the Twins, who exercised Rocco Baldelli’s club option for 2026 early in the 2025 season and still dismissed him at the end of the year. For now, Mattingly looks safe for next season, but Philadelphia could have another opening next offseason if Cora becomes interested in returning to managing.
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