Phillip Wellman

Phillip Lane Wellman (born December 5, 1961, in Marlin, Texas), is an American professional baseball coach and manager. He is the current bench coach for the Greensboro Grasshoppers, High-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball. Wellman entered minor league baseball as a player in and began coaching in . Wellman attended Sam Houston State University and Southwestern University.

Managerial career Wellman began his coaching career with the 1988 Pulaski Braves. He was a coach in the Atlanta Braves system from 1988 to 1991, including 1990 with the Burlington Braves and 1991 with the Durham Bulls.

Wellman managed outside of the Braves organization from 1992 to 2003, with the exception of 2000, when he was a coach for the minor league Louisville RiverBats. He returned to the Braves as the hitting coach for the Greenville Braves in 2004-2005, and the Mississippi Braves in 2006. Wellman was the skipper of Mississippi from 2007 to 2010.

After the Mississippi Braves finished the 2010 season with a 63–74 record, Wellman's contract was not renewed. He joined the Springfield Cardinals of the Texas League, Double-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, as hitting coach, and served three years (2011–2013) in that post before his appointment as manager of the Travelers, who also play in the Texas League. He left the Travelers at the end of the season and worked for a trucking company in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Wellman returned to minor league baseball in 2016 as manager of the San Antonio Missions. by covering home plate with dirt, then tracing in the dirt a new, significantly larger home plate. He then went on to uproot bases and throw them, crawl in a prone position across the infield like a soldier, and pretend to bite and hurl the rosin bag at an umpire as if it were a hand grenade. He concluded his tirade by pretending to eject the umpires themselves with a fist-pump and then blowing a farewell kiss to the crowd while taking a bow. The episode was broadcast on sports shows across the United States and gained him widespread fame on the Internet. This incident occurred one day before Lou Piniella's infamous meltdown against the Atlanta Braves. The Braves reappointed Wellman manager of the Mississippi Braves on December 7, 2007.

In March 2009, ESPN showed the top-10 meltdowns in sports history and judged Wellman's to be #1. Upon showing the clip, Hannah Storm said, "and there he goes, never to be seen from again." Co-anchor Josh Elliott added, "end of his career." However, this was incorrect. He was still the manager; and on September 13, 2008, he led the Mississippi Braves to the Southern League championship beating the Carolina Mudcats 3-2 in the 10th inning of the decisive Game 5. He was also brought up to the major league Atlanta Braves team for a couple of weeks in September 2008, a tradition for top minor-league managers in the Braves organization.

On May 26, 2016, in a game against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, he was ejected after protesting a runner being called out. Before being ejected, he stood in what appeared to be a military parade rest position, then threw the rosin bag as a grenade. Upon being ejected by the umpire, he first kicked the second base, then pulled the base from the ground and walked away with it. He then tossed the base in front of the San Antonio Missions dugout before walking off the field.

Personal life Wellman is married to Montee, with whom he has a daughter, Britnee, and son, Brett.

Brett attended Auburn University at Montgomery and played in the Toronto Blue Jays minor league system from 2014 to 2016, then later coached for the Chattanooga Lookouts, and a youth baseball team in Dallas. After the 2020 Minor League Baseball season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Brett managed the Amarillo Sod Squad, a Texas Collegiate League team that used the home ballpark of the Amarillo Sod Poodles, the team Phillip had managed the previous season.

Managerial records Year Team League Record Finish Organization Playoffs 1992 GCL Orioles Gulf Coast League 29-29 9th Baltimore Orioles 1993 Lethbridge Mounties Pioneer League 29-44 7th Co-op 1994 Lethbridge Mounties Pioneer League 29-43 7th Co-op 1995 River City Rumblers Appalachian League 22-45 10th Co-op 1996 Winston-Salem Warthogs Carolina League 74-65 3rd Cincinnati Reds 1997 Burlington (IA) Bees Midwest League 72-68 3rd Cincinnati Reds Lost in 1st round 1998 Burlington (IA) Bees Midwest League 63-77 13th Cincinnati Reds 1999 Chattanooga Lookouts Southern League 78-62 2nd Cincinnati Reds Lost in 1st round 2001 Chattanooga Lookouts Southern League 72-67 5th Cincinnati Reds Lost in 1st round 2002 Chattanooga Lookouts Southern League 60-80 9th Cincinnati Reds 2003 Chattanooga Lookouts Southern League 66-74 8th Cincinnati Reds 2007 Mississippi Braves Southern League 67-72 6th Atlanta Braves Lost in 1st round 2008 Mississippi Braves Southern League 73-66 3rd Atlanta Braves League Champs 2009 Mississippi Braves Southern League 65-73 5th Atlanta Braves 2010 Mississippi Braves Southern League 63-74 8th Atlanta Braves 2014 Arkansas Travelers Texas League 75-65 3rd/1st LA Angels Lost in 1st round 2016 San Antonio Missions Texas League 58-62 8th San Diego Padres 2017 San Antonio Missions Texas League 78-62 1st San Diego Padres Lost in 1st round 2018 San Antonio Missions Texas League 71-67 3rd San Diego Padres Lost League Finals 2019 Amarillo Sod Poodles Texas League 72-66 1st San Diego Padres League Champs 2021 San Antonio Missions Double-A Central 57–63 8th San Diego Padres 2022 San Antonio Missions Texas League 68-68 5th San Diego Padres Lost in 1st round 2023 El Paso Chihuahuas Pacific Coast League 62-88 9th San Diego Padres