Don Mattingly

PHILADELPHIA — Don Mattingly made up his mind that 2025 would be his last season in baseball. The 1985 AL MVP and former manager would retire after one final season as a bench coach in Toronto, without or without the World Series ring he’s fruitlessly chased since his rookie season with the New York Yankees in 1983.

Mattingly reversed course during a year in which the Blue Jays won the AL pennant because of meaningful talks with his son.

No, not Preston Mattingly, the Phillies general manager who is now his dad’s boss after Donnie Baseball signed a multi-year deal to serve under Rob Thomson as bench coach. Well, at least not entirely — father and son had plenty of conversations about role and responsibilities for the reigning NL East champion Phillies.

Give 11-year-old son Louis Mattingly the bulk of the credit for flipping dad’s decision.

“(He) was kind of like, ‘Dad, you can’t stop. You’ve got to keep going,'” Mattingly said with a laugh. “I was like, oh, I don’t know about this. But that kind of helped change it a little bit, because I do worry about him missing school and all that stuff that he does.”

Vogelbach hired

MILWAUKEE — Former Milwaukee Brewers player Daniel Vogelbach is returning to the organization as a hitting coach on manager Pat Murphy’s staff.

Vogelbach, who was a designated hitter and first baseman for the Brewers from 2020-21, is one of four new faces on the Brewers coaching staff that was announced Monday by president of baseball operations Matt Arnold. The other newcomers are first base coach Spencer Allen, hitting coach Guillermo Martinez and assistant pitching coach Juan Sandoval.

Vogelbach, 33, began his coaching career last season as a special assistant for hitting with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He played for the Pirates in 2022.

Elsewhere:

– Free agent right-hander Tyler Mahle finalized a one-year contract with the San Francisco Giants. The team announced the deal Monday. San Francisco also added right-hander Adrian Houser last month on a $22 million, two-year contract that includes a 2028 club option. Reliever Jason Foley signed a $2 million, one-year contract.