Former Cincinnati Reds Top Prospect Falls in Midseason Farm System Rankings

Connor Phillips has had a tough year and the rankings show it.

Sep 23, 2023; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Connor Phillips (34) reacts to striking out three batters in the first inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: The Cincinnati Enquirer-USA TODAY Sports / The Cincinnati Enquirer-USA TODAY Sports

New prospect rankings updates are not being kind to Cincinnati Reds pitching prospect Connor Phillips.

At the beginning of the season, Phillips was a top-three or four guy in the Reds organization, depending which site you looked at. For the purposes of this article, Baseball America and RedsMinorLeagues.com were consulted. Phillips was No. 3 in the Reds system, per Baseball America, while RedsMinorLeagues.com had him at No. 4.

Oh how Phillips has fallen.

In the midseason update for Baseball America, Phillips checked in at No. 19 in the Reds organization. RedsMinorLeagues.com was a little more kind and ranked him No. 18. That’s anywhere from a 14 to 16-spot drop.

Phillips struggled mightily with his command in his time at Triple-A Louisville, this year. In 14 starts he pitched just 57 innings (just over four innings per start) while allowing 79 hits and an unbelievable 56 total free base runners (50 walks plus six hit-batsmen). Considering he struck out just 53, he actually let up more free passes than he got strikeouts.

On a recent episode of the Locked On Reds podcast, RedsMinorLeagues.com owner Doug Gray said that apart from the walks Phillips was also allowing lots of hard contact. It’s crazy to think that Phillips has allowed five more home runs this year compared to last year in Louisville and he’s thrown 48-less innings than he did last year.

Almost two months ago, the Reds sent Phillips to Goodyear to basically regain his command. There are no official games in Goodyear where there are stats to report, and there has been no mention of his progress.

Phillips was a guy that many people around the Reds were considering as a part of the future of their starting rotation. As it stands, Phillips will need some serious work to get back into that conversation.

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