Yankees ‘extremely impressed’ by converted pitcher Brett Phillips
The Yankees added some bullpen arms at the trade deadline which they hope will pay off down the stretch this season and into the playoffs.
There was a minor league deal, though, that was also intriguing — but for further down the road.
After seeing former MLB outfielder Brett Phillips hit 97 mph with his fastball and show some touch with his breaking pitches while pitching for a semipro team at the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kan., on Monday, the Yankees pounced.
“We keep eyes on everything, from big free agents to trade deadline guys,’’ Yankees pro scouting director Matt Daley said.
The Yankees were made aware of the game by Phillips’ agent, Tom O’Connell, and liked what they saw.
“By 12 o’clock that night, I was getting messages from a lot of our guys that they were extremely impressed,’’ Daley said.
There were a handful of other teams that showed interest, O’Connell said, but the Yankees and assistant GM Mike Fishman were aggressive in making a deal.
Phillips played in parts of seven major league seasons, split among five teams.
He spent three years with the Rays.
He last played in the majors as an outfielder last year with the Angels and appeared in 17 games with the White Sox Triple-A affiliate this season before he was let go.
“Even before I got released, I saw the writing on the wall,” Phillips said by phone Saturday, shortly after throwing his first bullpen session at the Yankees’ training complex in Tampa, near where Phillips lives.
“I wasn’t gonna get another opportunity as a position player,” Phillips said. “I always knew my greatest asset was my arm, and if I wasn’t good enough as an offensive player anymore, I wanted to take advantage of it.”
Within days of his release by the White Sox, Phillips started working as a pitcher.
“For the past three months, this is what I’ve been doing, trying to get built up,” Phillips said. “Monday was the first time pitching in a game as a pitcher. I didn’t expect this all to come together so quickly.”
Though the Yankees decided to sign Phillips in large part because of what they saw on video from Wichita, their scouting of the right-hander began years ago, when he was still a position player.
“He had a very good arm grade as an outfielder, and we keep an eye on those guys in case they convert to pitching,’’ Daley said.
And Phillips also made five appearances in mop-up duty as a pitcher, something Gerrit Cole recalls.
“It was all eephus pitches,” Cole said. “Now I’m like, ‘What were you doing? You’ve got 97 [mph] in there.’ ”
But as Daley noted, there was one non-eephus pitch in Phillips’ brief time on the mound in the big leagues, and he hit 94.
The velocity Phillips showed Monday stood out to Cole when he saw Phillips had signed with the Yankees.
“For someone to throw 97, that’s real,’’ Cole said. “What a good athlete. I’m certainly intrigued, especially since we signed him. It’s not like he doesn’t have familiarity with the game. He was a pretty good player. He’s not some guy throwing 97 out of nowhere. He had a nice career as an outfielder. I didn’t realize his arm was that good.”
Daley agreed that Phillips’ background should help.
“He played in the majors a while and has been on a major league mound so he knows what that’s about,’’ said Daley, who spent parts of five seasons in the majors as a reliever, including the final two with the Yankees in 2013-14. “He has all the tools. He’s all in on it.”
As Phillips said Saturday: “This is no joke. I’m here to build up and hopefully help the Yankees win games. They know I have experience and can handle the atmosphere of playing on a big stage.”
Daley pointed to a pair of high-leverage relievers — Boston’s Kenley Jansen and Kansas City’s Lucas Erceg, who was just traded from Oakland — as examples of position players who transitioned to pitchers, though neither of them did so after playing at the major league level.
Daley said the Yankees haven’t determined where Phillips will start off as a pitcher, but Low-A Tampa is a possibility.
“I’m looking forward to going through the grind again,” Phillips said. “If I show I can help them, we’ll see what happens.”
And Daley insisted the signing was done because the Yankees believe Phillips has a real future as a pitcher.
“His fastball jumped on hitters, and he had a good feel on his breaking balls,’’ Daley said. “And the velocity and athleticism are already there. We think if we can get him the right coaching, this could be something.”
If all goes well, a return to the majors could be on the horizon.
“I love to compete and I love baseball,” Phillips said. “Any way I can help, I’ll do it. I can still play the outfield and I can still run. If I’m there, I’ll do whatever they want.”
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