February 20, 2026
Ken Blaze/Imagn Images
Can the Phillies get former Rangers OF Adolis García to become a fearsome slugger again? One MLB Insider thinks so.
Like most hitting coaches in cities that are passionate about their baseball team, Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long gets credit when the home team is rolling and blame when the bats go cold.
Long, who enters his 20th season as an MLB hitting coach and his fifth with the Phillies, is often credited for twice helping Kyle Schwarber re-emerge into a fearsome, MVP-level slugger. He's also known for helping other All-Stars he's worked with reach new heights at the plate.
Of course, also under Long's watch are other Phillies or former Phils who have either regressed at the plate (Nick Castellanos, Bryson Stott) or not shown steady year-over-year improvement (Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh).
How much is any individual hitter's improvement or decline directly because of the hitting coach?
Nobody can truly know for sure.
But Schwarber has frequently praised Long for working with him on a changed approach that includes quieter hands and an upright stance.
Long's reputation around baseball is stellar enough for longtime MLB Insider Tom Verducci to recently select new Phillies right fielder Adolis García as the team's most logical breakout candidate.
In a recent appearance on MLB Network, the Sports Illustrated senior baseball writer and FOX Sports MLB analyst said the Phillies "should be really optimistic on a bounce-back year" for García, the former Rangers slugger who won the 2023 American League Championship Series MVP and helped Texas win the World Series that season over Arizona.
García, a two-time All Star, also clubbed 39 homers and drove in 107 runs in 2023 – both career highs – and compiled a 4.7 WAR.
But over the next two seasons, his on-base percentage, slugging percentage, homers and RBIs all dipped, and García became a free agent after totaling just 19 homers and 75 RBIs while slashing .227/.271./.394 in 2025. It was the first time in the Cuban's career that he hit fewer than 25 homers and drove in fewer than 85 runs.
Verducci then broke down the change in García's swing over the past two seasons using video, noting that García saw MLB's second-most fastballs in 2025 because his swing had lost its "energy."
“I think [the Phillies] should be really optimistic on a bounce-back year…”
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) February 19, 2026
Tom Verducci dives in on Adolis García and how he can return to form with the Phillies in 2026. pic.twitter.com/FK4nMS5JQV
But Verducci's optimism for García's resurgence in Philly is largely because of Long's reputation for fixing swings of other stars, both past and present. Here's what he said:
"You're going to Philadelphia, where Kevin Long is one of the best hitting coaches. We've seen him do this to so many guys – Daniel Murphy, Curtis Granderson, the list goes on and on. And changing ballparks. For whatever reason that ballpark in Arlington played as the next-to-worst hitter's ballpark last year. Only Seattle was worse ... you go to Philadelphia, that's a top-7 ballpark as far as offense. So add it up, that lineup as well, I think he's going to have a big year."
The Phillies could really use a breakthrough from García, as they've been in need, for a while, of a right-handed power hitter who can be honest protection for Bryce Harper in the four hole. The first look could come Saturday, when the Phils open their spring training slate against the Blue Jays in Dunedin.
Long twice helped three-time All-Star Curtis Granderson improve his power stroke, first with the Yankees and later with the Mets. After a 30-homer season with the Tigers in 2009, the lefty-hitting Granderson joined the Yankees – whose stadium is famously kind to lefties – in 2010 but struggled to the point where then-manager Joe Girardi was sitting him against southpaw pitchers by August.
This ESPN story details how Girardi gave Granderson two games off to work with Long, who made some adjustments to Granderson's stance and the location of his hands. Granderson went on to slash .357/.514/.607 in the playoffs and then produced consecutive 40-homer, 100-RBI seasons for the first time before an injury-marred 2013 season limited him to 61 games and led the Yankees to not re-sign him.
Granderson joined the Mets in 2014 and hit just 20 homers that year while his slugging percentage dipped under .400 for the first time since his rookie season. In 2015, Long crossed town from The Bronx to Queens after being fired by the Yankees and then hired by the Mets, reuniting with Granderson.
He and Granderson went back into the lab to readjust Granderson's swing, which led to Granderson averaging 27.3 homers per season over the next three years despite playing home games at Citi Field, a known pitcher's park.
Long and Granderson together discussed the impact of Long's recommended adjustments and drills in this 2016 video, courtesy of MLB.com.
Also in 2015, Mets first baseman Daniel Murphy went on a surreal power tear in the postseason. He had already hit a career-high 14 homers in the regular season before stroking seven more in the postseason – including a streak of six consecutive games – as New York advanced to the World Series, where they lost in five games to the Royals.
Murphy then hit 25 homers and drove in 104 runs in 2016 for the Nationals and put together another 20-homer, 90-RBI season in 2017. An MLB.com story from the 2015 postseason details how Long convinced Murphy to move closer to home plate and get his front foot down sooner.
Long's work on Schwarber's swing is well known in Philadelphia. It actually started in Washington, when Schwarber signed with the Nationals in 2021 to end his six-year run with the Cubs, which included a world championship. In a COVID-shortened 2020, Schwarber slashed just .188/.308./.393 in 59 games, homering just 11 times.
The Cubs non-tendered him after the season, and Schwarber signed with the Nationals, where he linked up with Long for the first time. Schwarber smacked 25 homers in just 75 games that season before being traded to the Red Sox. He hit seven more with Boston en route to helping the Sox win a World Series.
Phillies beat Todd Zolecki of MLB.com wrote last year about the plan Long and Schwarber developed before the 2021 season to get Schwarber back on track.
Long and Schwarber both joined the Phillies in 2022, with Schwarber blasting 46 homers that year, followed by 47 the next. But while his power was rising, his batting average was plummeting – .218 in 2022 and .197 the next year.
Once again, Long and Schwarber worked to refine both his swing and pitch selection. In 2024, Schwarber's batting average climbed 51 points to .248 and he led the NL in walks. Last year, Schwarber erupted for a career-best 56 homers and 132 RBI while batting a respectable .240 with a .365 on base percentage.
Schwarber, in this MLB.com video from last March, explained how Long's swing tinkers, including less bat movement, helped him be more prepared in an era of evolved pitching.
Can Long be the swing doctor that García desperately needs to rediscover his power stroke?
Verducci thinks he can. The Phillies can only hope.
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