When Gabe Kapler came of age as a baseball fan, in Southern California in the early 1980s, he named his dog Pete for his first sports hero, Pete Rose, who played far away in Philadelphia. Pete the dog was a dirty, grimy mutt, Kapler said, some sort of terrier mix — a hustler, like Rose. Back then Kapler loved to wear a red satin Phillies warm-up jacket, and a few years later he adopted another Philadelphia athlete, Charles Barkley of the 76ers, as a favorite.

That was the extent of Kapler’s ties to Philadelphia before the Phillies named him their manager in October, at age 42. As a boy, he rooted mainly for the Toronto Blue Jays, because that was the name of his T-ball team. He played for six major league clubs — Detroit, Texas, Colorado, Boston, Milwaukee and Tampa Bay — but never the Phillies. He is nothing like the last few managers to lead the team to the World Series.

Dallas Green, a former Phillies pitcher and farm director, had a booming voice and a domineering presence. Paul Owens, who was also the general manager, was nicknamed Pope for his resemblance to John Paul II. Jim Fregosi, a raspy-voiced former All-Star, was a baseball lifer who stayed at a Holiday Inn by Veterans Stadium. Charlie Manuel, a plain-spoken hitting savant from Virginia, remains the city’s kindly baseball uncle.

So who, exactly, is Kapler? He is a 12-year major league outfielder who once took a hiatus to manage a Class A team. He has been a blogger and a bodybuilder, and he is fascinated by statistics in a way no other Phillies manager has been. He works by candlelight in spring training, he plays Ping-Pong with his players, and for all the interviews he will do this season, he may ask more questions than he answers.