Rob Thomson is taking the fall for the Philadelphia Phillies' slow start to the season.
With the Phillies off to a 9-19 start to the season, the club announced Tuesday morning that the Corunna native had been relieved of his duties as manager. Bench coach Don Mattingly will serve as interim manager.
Thomson leaves the Phillies with the highest winning percentage (.568) of any Phillies manager since 1900. He also took the Phillies to the playoffs in four stright seasons, only the second managers in Phillies history to do so.
But the team's slow start, which included a 10 game losing streak, put the writing on the wall.
Thomson joined the Phillies organization in 2018, when he was hired as bench coach for then manager Gabe Kapler. He later served in the same role under Joe Girardi, who was hired as manager after the firing of Kapler. Thomson had been Girardi's bench coach when the two were with the New York Yankees.
He became interim manager in June of 2022 when the club fired Joe Girardi. He later had the "interim" dropped from his title after leading the team to a National League championship, but fell to Houston in the World Series. Since then, the Phillies have had three 90+ win seasons and two National League East division titles. He had actually intended to retire at the end of the 2022 season, but put off retirement after being named manager of the Phillies.
Three more playoff appearances followed in 2023, 2024, and 2025. Following the 2025 season, the Phillies extended Thomson's contract through the 2027 season.
Thomson's professional baseball career began in 1985, when he was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 32nd round of the Major League Baseball draft. After four years playing in the Tigers' minor league system, he switched to coaching. He coached in the Tigers' system for two seasons, before joining the New York Yankees organization. Thomson served in several positions with the Yankees, including manager of the Yankees single A affiliate, Director of Player Development, and Vice President of Minor League Development before joining the Yankees' major league coaching staff. With the Yankees, he served as third base coach and was named bench coach in 2015. He held that position until the end of the 2017 season, before joining the Phillies for the 2018 season.
Thomson was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.
