Former Phillies farm director moves on, team seeks new Triple A skipper

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Coming off one of the best seasons of his career, Bryce Harper could be collecting some prestigious awards in the next few weeks. A finalist for the Silver Slugger award, the Hank Aaron award, and most likely MVP.

It didn't take long for Josh Bonifay to land back in a significant player development role.

The former Phillies director of player development has been hired to the same position with Texas Rangers, a source confirmed. The Dallas Morning News, which first reported the hiring, said Bonifay would become the Rangers' farm director.

Bonifay has previous ties to the Texas organization. He was on the Rangers' big-league staff as field coordinator in 2017. He worked in player development with the Houston Astros in 2018 before spending three seasons as director of player development with the Phillies.

As part of a restructuring of the Phillies minor-league operation, Bonifay was reassigned to the pro scouting department in August. That restructuring included Bryan Minniti's removal as assistant general manager overseeing scouting and player development.

The Phillies moved quickly in finding new leadership in their farm system as Preston Mattingly was named new director of player development in late September. He had spent the previous five years working for the San Diego Padres, first as manager of scouting and then as coordinator of major league advance scouting and game planning.

Mattingly spent his first month on the job observing the Phillies' instructional league program, which wrapped up last week in Clearwater.

Meanwhile, changes continue to be made in the Phillies' player development operation. According to sources, the Phillies will be seeking a new Triple A manager in 2022 as Gary Jones did not have his contract renewed. Longtime catching coordinator Ernie Whitt and minor league manager Pat Borders also did not have their contracts renewed.

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