A few more Cincinnati Reds fans are asking the team to promote pitching prospect Connor Phillips after the right-hander struck out 11 in seven scoreless innings Friday during the Triple-A Louisville Bats’ 16-1 win against the Columbus Clippers at Louisville Slugger Field.
Phillips, the Reds’ No. 7 prospects according to MLB Pipeline, leads all of Minor League Baseball with 134 strikeouts this season (in just 82 1/3 innings). In four starts with the Bats since the Reds promoted Phillips from Double-A Chattanooga, Phillips has posted a 2.55 ERA with 23 strikeouts in 17 2/3 innings.
Phillips, who turned 22 in May, struck out 13 in six innings for High-A Dayton last year. Last month, he struck out 10 in an outing for the Lookouts. Six days later, he struck out 12.
Here’s what else you should know about Phillips:
Phillips was the Seattle Mariners’ second-round pick in the 2020 MLB Draft.
Seattle selected Phillips 64th overall in Competitive Balance Round B, one pick before the Reds took high school catcher Jackson Miller.
None of the Reds’ picks in the 2020 draft have reached the big leagues yet. Outfielder Austin Hendrick, selected 12th overall out of West Allegheny HS, is hitting .209 in Dayton, with 122 Ks in 355 plate appearances. Pitcher Christian Roa, taken 48th overall out of Texas A&M, is pitching with Phillips in Louisville, and has posted an 11.85 ERA with six homers allowed in 13 2/3 innings for the Bats. Miller is rehabbing from sports hernia surgery.
The Reds acquired Phillips from Seattle in March 2022 as the player to be named later in a blockbuster trade.
In March, the Reds announced that Phillips would complete the deal that sent outfielder Jesse Winker and third baseman Eugenio Suarez to the Mariners for starting pitcher Justin Dunn, outfielder Jake Fraley and left-handed pitcher Brandon Williamson.
Winker, an All-Star for the Reds in 2021, is hitting .194 with one homer this season for the Milwaukee Brewers. He hit .219 with 14 homers last season for Seattle.
Suarez, an All-Star for Cincinnati in 2018, has hit .232 with 45 home runs in 1,043 PAs over parts of two seasons for the Mariners.
Dunn has posted a 6.10 ERA in seven starts for the Reds and is working his way back from a shoulder injury.
Fraley is hitting .269 with 14 home runs and 58 RBIs in 290 plate appearances this season, with an OPS of .841.
Williamson has a 4.60 ERA through 12 starts for the Reds, but has pitched much better as of late and helped the Reds to a 4-2 win against Arizona on Saturday.
Phillips was born in Texas, and went to high school and college there.
A Houston native, Phillips attended Magnolia West High School in Magnolia before heading to McLennan Community College in Waco. Former Reds reliever Logan Ondrusek and former Mariners great Jay Buhner played at McLennan.
Relief pitcher Ian Gibaut is the only player on the Reds’ active roster from Texas. He also was born in Houston.
Williamson went to TCU.
Phillips features an upper-90s fastball, a sweeping slider and an impressive curveball.
Scouts rate all three pitches as above-average.
“He’s just got a really big arm and big stuff,” Reds pitching coach Derek Johnson said earlier this year. “So far, he keeps the ball in the zone pretty well. It’s not a lot of wild misses. He’s really impressive. He’s got an array of stuff he can use and it’s all pretty good. For me, it’s just making sure he checks his boxes on the way and see what we’ve got.”
At Spring Training, the Reds’ big-league hitters had a tough time against Phillips’ fastball-slider combo.
Phillips was a non-roster invitee who became one of the players to watch in Goodyear. He’s made an effort to work on his control and walk fewer batters, and has seen results.
Phillips also worked on developing a change-up, as a fourth pitch, during the offseason.
“It was always a good action pitch, but I didn’t have confidence in it to go out there and throw it over the plate,” Phillips said earlier this year. “I’m going to continue to make sure I throw it. I think that’s the best thing for it.”
At Louisville, Phillips is adjusting to a different ball than he’s used.
The Reds hope Phillips’ fourth start at Louisville, his best yet, suggests he may be getting used to a “regular” ball.
In the Southern League, Phillips used tackier baseballs for the 14 starts he made during the first half of this season in addition to his 12 starts last season for the Lookouts. The league is part of MLB’s pilot program to test tackier balls, which aren’t used in Triple-A or MLB.
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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Connor Phillips, Cincinnati RHP prospect, leads minors in strikeouts