Mattingly promoted to Phillies' GM, Fuld soon to be president of business ops

PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies announced a front office shakeup on Friday afternoon that gives them a new general manager, new player development director and -- eventually -- a new president of business operations.

General manager Sam Fuld will become the Phillies president of business operations in May 2026, upon completion of his MBA at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He will remain in his GM role and continue to assist in baseball operations until then.

Preston Mattingly was promoted to general manager from assistant general manager of player development, while Luke Murton was promoted to player development director from hitting development director. Edwar Gonzalez was promoted to hitting development director after being Murton’s assistant director.

“Sam and Preston are two of the best young people in the game,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Friday. “It’s a great situation for us and for them.”

Fuld had been viewed in baseball as Dombrowski’s heir apparent -- Dombrowski’s current contract runs through 2027 -- or as a future president of baseball operations somewhere in Major League Baseball.

Instead, Fuld has chosen a different path. He will replace executive vice president Dave Buck, a longtime Phillies employee, who is leaving the club at the end of the year. Between the time Buck leaves and Fuld assumes his new role, Phillies managing partner John Middleton and other executives will run business operations.

“This was born out of a conversation I had with Dave and John this spring,” Fuld said. “We just sort of talked about the short term, the midterm and the long-term implications of this opportunity. Admittedly, it was not something I had given a ton of thought to at the time. But once I digested it all and wrapped my head around it, it felt like a really compelling opportunity both professionally and personally.”

Asked if he could return to baseball operations at some point, Fuld said, “Baseball has been my heart and soul my whole life. I’ve loved the game ever since I’ve whacked a couple Wiffle balls off the tee at age 3. I’ve never lost any love for it. I’m never going to lose that love for the game. … I’m incredibly excited about what lies ahead on the business side. But this is not a signal that I’ve suddenly lost an interest in helping the Phillies win the World Series and put in the best 26 players that we can get on our roster.

“I look forward to continuing to be involved in whatever capacity that might look like down the road.”

Mattingly also has been considered as a general manager in the making. It is one reason why the Phillies promoted him from player development director to assistant GM in November 2023.

They wanted to make sure he didn’t leave for an opportunity elsewhere.

“I think when you get into [baseball], you don’t really know where it’s going to take you,” Mattingly said. “I’ve always taken the route of, just be where my feet are and whatever role I had at the time, be really good at it and help other people, grow and get better and help the players. So I wouldn’t say I’ve had this earmarked as 'Hey, I really want to do this,' but obviously you get to watch people like A.J. Preller in San Diego and now Dave and Sam in Philadelphia and you admire what they do and you learn from them and grow, and you hope that one day you can do the job as they do. I’m excited about it.”

The Phillies hired Murton as their hitting development director in December 2022. He will now run the farm system, while Gonzalez will assume his old role.

“He has a very unique skill set,” Mattingly said about Murton. “His ability to connect with staff, but also connect with players. He’s obviously incredibly intelligent, coming from Georgia Tech. He’s worked on the hitting side. The last couple years we’ve seen tremendous growth there. I think he’s well equipped to take over the entire Minor League organization.”