And shine he did!
Connor Phillips received 11 votes from you, our dear readers, for the #1 spot in the 2024 Red Reporter Community Prospect Rankings. Ultimately the top spot ended up going to Noelvi Marte in the voting and Phillips landed at #5 on the list, but one year ago the fireballing right-hander had shown ample in his first full season in the Cincinnati Reds system to warrant consideration as one of the absolute best prospects on the admittedly loaded farm.
He rocketed into almost every Top 100 overall prospect list available, and he promptly got the yips. The elite strikeout stuff he flashed all through 2023 evaporated with his inability to hit the strike zone, and his walk rate soared as a result. Hitters stopped swinging at his offerings until he hummed them meatballs behind in the count, and they feasted. He allowed 20 ER through his first 20 IP for AAA Louisville on the season, with a horror-show 17/16 K/BB.
Eventually, he ended up back in the Reds team facility in Goodyear with the franchise’s rookies post-draft, though he was only there to work on mechanics (and not actually pitch in games). For two months he worked on rediscovering what had made him so unhittable the year before. When he returned to Louisville at the end of August, he made 5 appearances for the Bats before the season ended and finally, mercifully looked more like a budding big league starter once again (21.2 IP, 6 ER, 24/10 K/BB, .660 OPS against).
Photo by Chris Coduto/MLB Photos via Getty Images
He’s back in Arizona representing the Reds this October, though not in a secret lab trying to find himself while in the dumps. Instead, he’s loading up an innings count on his arm that he couldn’t accrue while struggling through the season, pitching for the Glendale Desert Dogs in Arizona Fall League play. And on Wednesday, he made his debut in AFL play looking exactly how the Reds hoped he would.
Phillips struck out 7 and allowed nary a walk (or run) in 4.0 IP, yielding only a pair of hits in the process. According to Jim Callis of MiLB.com, he sat 96-99 mph with his fastball and once again flashed the wipeout slider that was his go-to out pitch in his breakout 2023 season, too.
It was a great first step for Phillips in his path back to the big leagues, one that seemingly has a very clear opening ahead of him. With Brandon Williamson’s late-season Tommy John surgery, the likely Tommy John surgery of Julian Aguiar, and the possibility of both Nick Martinez and Jakob Junis opting into free agency, there’s a giant need for competent starting pitching in Reds country these days. Phillips has always had the talent to seize one of those spots, and if he’s truly rediscovered it the way he flashed yesterday, well, the Reds might have some money to spend on some bats again.