Matthew Klentak (born August 14, 1980) is an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

front office executive who served as the

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the Philadelphia Phillies of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

from October 2015 to October 2020. He also previously served as the assistant general manager of MLB's Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He currently serves as a special assistant in the Brewers front office.

Baseball career

Klentak was raised in Medfield, Massachusetts, and attended Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, Massachusetts, where he earned two varsity letters in baseball. He then attended Dartmouth College, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the Dartmouth Big Green all four years, starting at

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

for three years, and serving as the team captain in his senior year. Bob Whalen, Dartmouth's

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

, moved Ed Lucas from shortstop to third base so that Klentak could play shortstop. Klentak graduated from Dartmouth in 2002 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

. Klentak worked for the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...

in their baseball operations department during the 2003 season. He then worked in

's Labor Relations Department for four years. He worked with Andy MacPhail, then the team president of the Baltimore Orioles, while working on the 2006 Collective Bargaining Agreement. In 2008, MacPhail hired Klentak as director of baseball operations. After the 2011 season, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim hired Klentak as their assistant

. When Jerry Dipoto, the Angels' general manager, resigned during the 2015 season, Klentak was interviewed for the position. The Angels hired Billy Eppler. The Philadelphia Phillies, led by MacPhail as their president, interviewed Klentak for their general manager position after the 2015 season. The Phillies hired Klentak as their general manager, introducing him at a press conference on October 26, 2015. On October 3, 2020, Klentak announced that he would be stepping down as Phillies General Manager. He was followed by Sam Fuld. On January 24, 2022, the Milwaukee Brewers announced that they hired Klentak as a special assistant in the organization.

Personal life

Klentak is from Medfield, Massachusetts. Klentak's father, George, is an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

and his mother, Josee, works as a teacher's aide. He and his wife, Lauren, met at Dartmouth and have two daughters.

References

External links

Matt Klentak
at Baseball America Executive Database
Matt Klentak Interview
interview from 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Klentak, Matthew Living people 1980 births Dartmouth Big Green baseball players Baseball shortstops Colorado Rockies executives Baltimore Orioles executives Los Angeles Angels executives Philadelphia Phillies executives Major League Baseball general managers People from Medfield, Massachusetts Xaverian Brothers High School alumni