Consistency is the name of the game for any goal, profession, or hobby. The more consistency you are at a task, the better you become. If your consistency is sporadic, then your overall success will vary. This is not new, it is common sense. Yet, it seems like the KC Royals, and some of the fan base skipped past the consistency part and have gone straight to production when evaluating how often Brett Phillips will/should play. It seems to be the classic “putting the cart before the horse” scenario.
Surface-level analytics
If you look strictly at season numbers you can get a false impression as to what type of player Phillips can be.