Reds Prospect Connor Phillips Hitting Stride in Arizona Fall League After Tough Start to Season

Phillips did not give up an earned run on Thursday.

Greg Kuffner | Nov 9, 2024

Sep 30, 2023; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Connor Phillips (34) pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Zach Dalin-Imagn Images / Zach Dalin-Imagn Images

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Connor Phillips could not have gotten off to a worse start to the 2024 season. Through 14 starts in Triple-A with the Louisville Bats, he had an ERA of 10.11 and had walked 50 batters in 57 innings.

It was going so poorly that the Reds decided to send him to Arizona to their complex and help him get back to the basics.

“At the beginning of the year, it was really, really rough,” Phillips told Michael Reynolds on MLB.com. “I was thinking something different every single day, and that was really not a good place to be in. I don’t think anyone wants to be in the place as a pitcher in the game of baseball.”

After being in Arizona for a little over two months, Phillips returned to Louisville and made five starts for the Bats with fantastic results. He had a 2.49 ERA and struck out 24 in 21 1/3 innings. More importantly, in two of those starts, he didn't walk a batter.

“I’ve been in a really good place mentally, coming off the season,” Phillips said. “I’ve been really excited to be out here and to keep pitching, making sure I really fortify what I’m working on.”

The Reds decided to send Phillips to the Arizona Fall League to make up for the innings he missed while in Arizona.

The 23-year old picked up right where he left off in Louisville. He has posted a 4.15 ERA over five games, though that number is inflated by one rough outing. He has 22 strikeouts over 17 1/3 innings.

“Being able to come out here and figure some stuff out and go back out and throw together some good innings is really, really big for me,” he said. “I changed some stuff up, and I thought today was really, really good, showed some really good signs.”

Phillips is a long shot to make the Reds roster out of spring training, but he wants to make that decision hard for them.

“The team’s going to do what the team wants to do,” he said. “I don’t have a say in that, but I want to make it a tough decision for them, making sure that I come out [to Spring Training] with my best stuff and that my body feels good.”

You can watch highlights of his start on Thursday night here.

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