By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
At the end of September, the Philadelphia Phillies moved on from Pete Mackanin in the manager role and put him in a special assistant to the general manager position. After the the season, Matt Klentak and the Phillies interviewed a handful of internal and external candidates, including third base coach Juan Samuel, Ironpigs manager Dusty Wathan and out of the organization candidates Alex Cora, Gabe Kapler, Manny Acta, Mickey Callaway and Chip Hale.
It seems like they are closing in on a decision as USA Today's Bob Nightengale indicates with Dusty Wathan the likely choice for the Phillies.
The Philadelphia #Phillies zeroing in on Dusty Wathan to become their next manager, promoting him from Triple A Lehigh Valley
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) October 25, 2017
Wathan, 44, seemed like the choice that made the most sense internally. He began his managerial career in the Phillies organization back in 2008 and has worked with a large chunk of the Phillies prospects currently in the big leagues or close to making it there. Wathan has worked his way up the Phillies minor league system, managing the Short Season Crosscutters in 2008, Class 'A' Lakewood in 2009, Advanced 'A' Clearwater in 2010-11, Double-A Reading from 2012-16 and Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2017. Wathan broke into the Major Leagues as a player for a short stint in 2002 with the Kansas City Royals.
Wathan's minor league track record is a good one. He won a championship with Lakewood in 2009, led Reading to three playoff appearances (2012, 1015, 2016) and an Eastern League Championship Series (2015). He also led the prospect-packed Ironpigs to their second best record in franchise history in 2017, finishing the season 80-62 despite losing guys like Rhys Hoskins, Nick Williams, Ben Lively and Jorge Alfaro to big league promotions.
Since joining the Phillies system as a manager in 2008, Wathan has posted a 712-630 (.530) career record over 1,342 games.
