The Philadelphia Phillies announced a series of personnel changes on Thursday, including promoting farm director Luke Murton to serve as assistant general manager for hitting.<\/p>\n
The change at the top of the player development department will take effect either when the minor-league year ends in November or when the team hires a replacement, according to a team source who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the moves candidly.<\/p>\n
The Phillies said Murton\u2019s job, in a \u201cnewly created role,\u201d is to \u201coversee the club\u2019s minor league hitting program\u201d while continuing to work \u201cclosely with the Phillies\u2019 player development and scouting departments.\u201d Those were his responsibilities from 2023-24 when he served as director of hitting development. This promotion appears to be in title only.<\/p>\n
The Phillies will be hiring a new farm director.<\/p>\n
Murton\u2019s move is particularly noteworthy given the farm system\u2019s recent struggles<\/a>. Many outlets have dropped the Phillies\u2019 system in their rankings due to Aidan Miller\u2019s injury-marred absence<\/a> and the graduation of top prospects Andrew Painter and Justin Crawford. Although the Phillies have real talent in the minor leagues (Gage Wood, Francisco Renteria), they lack the depth other teams have in their farm system. That has hurt them in the rankings, too.<\/p>\n The personnel changes will affect the organization\u2019s major- and minor-league sides, including a promotion for minor-league operations director Edwin Soto, who moves to manager of baseball administration, and director of international operations Ray Robles, who becomes director of minor league and international operations.<\/p>\n