At no point in his professional career has Connor Phillips been more needed by the Cincinnati Reds than he is right now.
The fireballing righty and his wipeout slider came to the Reds from the Seattle Mariners organization as the player to be named later in the deal that sent away Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker, arriving to the Cincinnati farm a mere 20 year old JUCO product who’d only thrown 76 innings of pro ball (all of which came at A or A+). The talent was there, clearly, but he was a long-game plan, someone who fit the franchise’s ‘sustainability’ mold more than the more immediate-impact returns of Jake Fraley and Brandon Williamson.