Roy Halladay joins Phillies as spring instructor

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Roy Halladay will be back in a Phillies uniform on Tuesday as he joins the team as a guest instructor for spring training.

Halladay, who retired after the 2013 season, was last a guest instructor with the Phillies in 2014. The Phillies have welcomed the services this spring of former players Mike Schmidt, Brad Lidge, Larry Andersen, Chad Durbin and Wes Helms, and Halladay's former manager, Charlie Manuel.

Halladay, who will turn 40 in May, lives near Clearwater. He coaches his son's youth baseball team and also has become an avid pilot. Halladay met Phillies pitchers Jerad Eickhoff and Nick Pivetta last month at a banquet in Clearwater.

During his career, the righthander preached the mental side of pitching, crediting much of his success to advice from mental skills coach Harvey Dorfman. It would not be a surprise if that is something Halladay stresses with the team's young pitching staff.

Halladay spent four seasons with the Phillies, the first two of which were some of the best seasons by a pitcher in franchise history. He threw a perfect game in his first season, followed by a no-hitter in his first playoff game. Halladay went 21-10 in 2010 with a 2.44 ERA. His Cy Young Award season included nine complete games and four shutouts.

The pitcher was the ace of the "Four Aces" in 2011, finishing with a 19-6 record and a 2.35 ERA. His final start of that season - a 1-0 loss to the Cardinals that proved to be the end of the Phillies' stretch of success - was his last great night.