Phillies to hire Klentak as new general manager

Six weeks ago, John Middleton sat behind a dais in the bowels of Citizens Bank Park and expounded on what the Phillies sought in their next general manager. The team's influential part-owner explained what he had told new club president Andy MacPhail - that he needed to "hire himself."

It is fitting, then, that MacPhail hired a former protege as his first lieutenant. Matt Klentak, the 35-year-old assistant general manager of the Los Angeles Angels, will be named the Phillies' new GM, a baseball source confirmed Saturday. Klentak replaces Ruben Amaro Jr., who was fired Sept. 10 after nearly seven years in the job.

The Phillies did not announce the hire. An announcement could come as early as Monday, the same day the team's front office begins its annual organizational meetings. The Boston Globe first reported the news on Saturday.

Klentak was long viewed as a front-runner for the position.

MacPhail, formerly president of the Baltimore Orioles, hired him at the age of 27 to work as his director of baseball operations. Klentak served in that capacity from the 2008 season through 2011, after which MacPhail left at the expiration of his contract and Klentak joined the Angels.

Klentak graduated from Dartmouth with an economics degree in 2002. He started three years at shortstop for the Big Green and was team captain as a senior.

His start in professional baseball came in 2003, when he landed an internship in the Colorado Rockies baseball operations department. From there, he moved on to Major League Baseball's labor-relations department, where he first met MacPhail during negotiations for the 2006 collective bargaining agreement.

It is clear the Phillies sought an analytically inclined up-and-comer to serve as MacPhail's No. 2. Analytics are certainly part of Klentak's background, although those who know him paint the picture of an executive with a balanced skill-set when it comes to using both traditional and modern ways of thinking.

"He's very thorough. [He] always has been that way," Bob Whalen, Klentak's coach at Dartmouth, said by phone Saturday.

"He has some natural leadership skills. He was just one of those kids who has the ability to make other people better. It's hard to define, but you know it when you see it, and he's definitely one of those guys."

Dan O'Dowd was the Rockies GM when Klentak interned in Colorado. In a telephone interview, O'Dowd, now an MLB Network analyst, lauded Klentak's "people skills" and said the new Phillies GM has an "infectious personality."

Klentak's range of experiences are rare for an executive of his age.

"Even though he's young at 35, he's worked in three different organizations, but he's also worked in the commissioner's office, so he's gotten to see the games through a ton of different prisms," O'Dowd said. "So at 35 years old, not many people have been exposed to that much within their career."

MacPhail, 62, was selected by the Phillies in late June to succeed Pat Gillick, and officially took over the post Oct. 14. Thirty years ago, the Minnesota Twins made MacPhail the youngest general manager in baseball, a fact Middleton alluded to last month. After winning two World Series titles with the Twins, in 1987 and 1991, MacPhail went on to lead the Chicago Cubs and later the Orioles.

MacPhail tabbed Klentak to help him rebuild the Phillies, baseball's worst team in 2015, after an extensive search that heated up after the season finale. The other finalists for the position, according to MLB.com, were Oakland Athletics assistant GM Dan Kantrovitz and Tampa Bay Rays vice president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom, a Wynnewood native.

MacPhail has not commented on his GM search since Sept. 22.

"I think he is a very bright, capable young man who has demonstrated a good feel for the game," MacPhail told the Baltimore Sun in 2008 after hiring Klentak to work for the Orioles.

"I think our philosophies are compatible, and I think he's going to bring a little different point of view, which every organization can use. He's highly recommended from a lot of people in this game that I have a lot of respect for."

kaplanj@phillynews.com

@jakemkaplan