Reds' Phillips hopes wild ride leads him from Fall League back to Cincy

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Connor Phillips went from the top of the Reds organization to the bottom in nine months. After making his big league debut last September, he found himself reassigned to the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League this June.

Because Phillips posted a 9.92 ERA with as many walks as strikeouts (54) in 59 Triple-A innings, the Reds didn't want him to pitch in any actual ACL games. The right-hander's mechanics and stuff were so out of whack that Cincinnati had him spend two months throwing bullpen sessions to try to correct them.

While it might have been a shock to find himself in Rookie ball, Phillips welcomed it. And it paid off.

"It was actually super easy for me to buy into, because I had a 10 [ERA] in the first half of the season, and that to me was new water," Phillips said. "I never experienced something like that. So going out to Arizona was really good for me -- and it was also super good mentally for me. I was at the point where I'm trying to figure something out every day, and whenever you're there, nothing good is going to come from that."

Following two months at the Reds' training complex in Goodyear, Ariz., Phillips returned to Triple-A Louisville and logged a 2.49 ERA with a 24/10 K/BB ratio in five starts. Cincinnati's No. 15 prospect carried that momentum into the Arizona Fall League. He dominated in his first start on Wednesday for the Glendale Desert Dogs, who lost to the Salt River Rafters, 4-2.

Phillips fanned seven in four scoreless innings, yielding just two hits without a walk while throwing 36 of 58 pitches for strikes. His most dominant offering was his 85-87 mph slider, which finished four of his whiffs, and notched eight swinging strikes and six called strikes in 25 pitches. He sat at 96-99 mph with his fastball and he also mixed in a handful of 85-86 mph curveballs and 89-90 mph changeups.

"The slider has always been my pitch," Phillips said. "I went through a little phase where it used to be 80-84 and a ton of sweep and kind of hard to control. Now I'm throwing it more 84-87, a little bit shorter but still has that sweep. So I'm able to control it more and put it in the zone and then get it out of the zone whenever I need to."

A supplemental second-round pick by the Mariners out of McLennan (Texas) CC in 2020, Phillips joined the Reds as part of the Eugenio Suárez/Jesse Winker trade two years later. Phillips has some crossfire in his delivery that adds deception, but he had gotten too directional to the plate in the first half of this season. His release height also had gotten too high, costing him some life and control on his pitches.

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Phillips said his release height is still a bit higher than he'd like, but he's pleased with the progress he has made. After working just 78 2/3 innings during the regular season -- 47 fewer than he totaled in 2023 -- he relished the opportunity for more work in the Fall League to help his chances of making it back to Cincinnati next season.

"I don't think I have an inning limit, which for me is really good," Phillips said. "If I want to get back to who I am and be in the big leagues next year, then I have to have that inning load. They're giving me an opportunity to do that out here.

"A lot of this for me is really results-based. I know a lot of guys will come out here to figure out new stuff, but for me, it's more like I'm back in a competitive atmosphere and I'm trying to win every single ballgame that I'm pitching in."