Longtime MLB outfielder Brett Phillips is attempting to get back to the big leagues as a pitcher. Earlier this week, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times wrote about Phillips and his recent journey, then relayed on X that he had a agreed to a minor league deal with the Yankees.
Phillips, 30, appeared in the majors as an outfielder from 2017 to 2023, not hitting to much but providing value via his speed and defense. He hit .187/.272/.347 over 395 games for the Brewers, Royals, Rays, Orioles and Angels, stealing 39 bases in 45 tries. In just over 2,300 outfield innings, he was considered to be worth 41 Defensive Runs Saved and 32 Outs Above Average.
Most recently, he signed a minor league deal with the White Sox in January but was released in May after hitting .120/.228/.280 in 57 Triple-A plate appearances. It seems he has been focusing on carving out a new career path on the mound with some encouraging signs.
Phillips tells Topkin that he has a fastball that has been clocked at 95 miles per hour as well as a curveball and split-change. In another piece at the Tampa Bay Times, Topkin notes that Phillips recently pitched in a National Baseball Congress game and was hitting 97 miles per hour with his fastball.
“I feel like I’m going to pick it up pretty quickly,” Phillips said. “The whole reason I’m doing this is I feel like I can still compete. I feel like my body can still allow me to compete. And I feel like I could help. I love the game. And I want to continue to play the game, especially at the highest level.”
While he was still working as an outfielder in the majors, Phillips was generally beloved within the baseball world for his ebullient personality, perhaps best exemplified by his celebratory run into the outfield after the Rays walked off the Dodgers in Game Four of the 2020 World Series (video from MLB.com). That will undoubtedly mean that many will be in his corner as he attempts to navigate this unusual second act for his career.
Phillips already has 5 1/3 innings of pitching experience, which mostly involved him lobbing the ball over the plate in blowout games. If he manages to get back to the majors now that he’s pursuing pitching in a more serious fashion, he is out of options but has four years and 60 days of service time, meaning he could be retained via arbitration for at least one additional season.
I’m pretty sure I speak for everyone when I say, we’re all rooting for you!
Best of luck to him!
Hope he makes it back to the bigs. Hard not to root for this guy.
Love it! Go get ’em, Brett!
If it’s in him, Matt Blake will get it to come out. Cashman has done a lot of dumb things but hiring Blake isn’t one of them.
Maybe he can close! Holmes almost gave up a walk-off homer today.
Yeah. Holmes is on thin ice every night!
Swept the best team. Tied for most wins now. Aaaand Cashman wants to keep Jasson down.
If he isn’t getting regular AB’s, then he should stay down. He can’t be in a role where he gets JD Davis’ ABs. I think that a late season call up is probable. If you are talking about giving him Verdugo’s ABs then fine, but he would have been traded yesterday.
YBC – Cleveland is the best team by record.
YBC,
Was nice seeing DJ produce today. Him driving in all 6 runs today wasn’t on my bingo card.
Swept the best team true. But they have been playing awful so it didn’t stand out as much as it would otherwise. 4-11 recently I hear (I counted 4-12 but I may be wrong). I think Phillies hold on the division is not as secure as people believe. 6.5 up. Braves have played less games I think (many rainouts). 7 games against each other. I’ve seen it several times before in the NL east. But back to Yanks.
I would speculate that they want Dominguez to have a few healthy weeks playing CF everyday before committing a roster move to him. The last thing they want heading into September is him re-injuring his oblique and having no true CF’ers (assuming he replaced Grisham) for the rest of the year. What they say publicly is just an attempt to minimize pressure on him. Their great start to the season has given them house money to play with in being conservative regarding his return. If things go well he’ll be up for September and platooning with Verdugo going into October.
I agree with what you’re saying about Blake, but he’s not going to work with Phillips anytime soon. Not until spring training next year, assuming Phillips is still with the organization by that time.
I’m pretty sure Brett will be spending the rest of the summer at the Yankees’ Tampa facility working with their minor league instructors and maybe getting into some games with the lower ML teams.
He already hits like a pitcher
Culberson was more of… nice arm. Probably be a good 2 way player in college
The clips of Phillips recently…. gas! And a nice breaking ball. I think he has a better shot than Culberson did
I wish him luck. That’s not easy.
man i love this guy i hope he does make it he was low key nasty as a position player pitcher
“…nasty as a position player pitcher”
I dunno about that, given Anthony Rendon hit a homerun batting left handed against him!
But I hope he makes it as well! Would be a great story.
With the blessings of Anthony Gose, good luck, Brett!
Baseball Is Fun
Will always remember him getting the walk off hit and becoming an airplane
Yeah. A shame that 2020 season doesn’t count though.
Saw a clip of him. Nice downward action on 97 gas and a nasty hook. If he can work on command, he has a shot to make it for sure.
The good news is he already hits like a Pitcher…
Good luck to him. He’s really a superb human being. I really hope this works out!
Dude definitely has the mindset of a reliever, would be a firecracker sitting in the bullpen, having fun out there while waiting for his turn to pitch. Phillips has the velocity. Hopefully he can make this work for him. He’s good for baseball…
He would immediately be the closer in the White Sox bullpen. With 28 blown saves this year, someone on the Sox thought of it.
The joke of it is the Dodgers took Kopech. More losses and blown saves than completed saves.
But he throws hard!!! lol
Have to give the guy a lot of credit for facing reality. If you can’t hit, find a position where you don’t have to.
They backed out of the Flaherty deal this is who they were after the whole time to slot in behind Cole! Another dumpster dive ‘great success high five’ by Cashman! Very nice!!!!
The Yankees new closer. Let’s go Phillips!!!!
A big reason for Phillips to want/need to compete at the highest level: 5 years service time means benefits for life as well.
LOL – JasonLane
“I feel like I’m going to pick it up pretty quickly.”
Yikes, great attitude, but pitching is hard, and really, only pitchers know that. Welcome, Mr. Phillips. Find another team and I’ll root for you.
Wish him luck… he’ll probably get called up before Marinaccio (*laughs then lets out a small sob*).