Brett Phillips

Brett Phillips

28-Year-Old OutfielderOF
2023 Fantasy Outlook
Phillips is one of the game's great personalities and a defensive wiz in center field, but his inability to make contact has meant his bat lagging well behind. He struck out at a 41.8 percent clip last season with the Rays and Orioles, which, sadly, isn't that far off from his career 37.8 percent strikeout rate. The Angels liked Phillips' defensive prowess enough to give him a major-league deal over the offseason and he could get some run if the injury bug hits Mike Trout again. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
#601
ADP
$Signed a one-year, $1.2 million contract with the Angels in January of 2023.
Signs with Halos
OFLos Angeles Angels
January 9, 2023
Phillips signed a one-year, $1.2 million deal with the Angels on Monday, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports.
ANALYSIS
Despite slashing just .144/.217/.249 across 225 plate appearances last season, Phillips will join the Angels on a major-league deal. He has four of the five tools, with the hit tool being his major weakness, but Phillips' defense and intangibles earned him a spot on the Angels' bench to open the season.
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Batting Stats
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2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2022 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
5
12
14
21
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
8
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2020
 
 
+123%
OPS vs RHP
2022
 
 
+879%
OPS vs RHP
2021
 
 
+128%
OPS vs RHP
2020
 
 
+41%
OPS vs LHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2020vs Left .314 129 5 1 3 5 .096 .183 .132
Since 2020vs Right .700 447 77 19 61 22 .202 .291 .409
2022vs Left .056 37 1 0 0 0 .000 .056 .000
2022vs Right .548 188 21 5 15 7 .174 .249 .299
2021vs Left .372 84 4 1 3 3 .110 .207 .164
2021vs Right .848 208 46 12 41 11 .239 .332 .517
2020vs Left .929 8 0 0 0 2 .429 .500 .429
2020vs Right .661 51 10 2 5 4 .159 .275 .386
More Splits View More Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2020
 
 
+9%
OPS at Home
2022
 
 
+43%
OPS at Home
2021
 
 
+15%
OPS on Road
2020
 
 
+29%
OPS at Home
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2020Home .638 293 40 11 34 12 .180 .269 .369
Since 2020Away .588 281 42 9 30 15 .177 .263 .325
2022Home .556 105 12 4 12 2 .161 .233 .323
2022Away .389 120 10 1 3 5 .130 .203 .185
2021Home .665 161 23 6 20 7 .181 .281 .384
2021Away .768 131 27 7 24 7 .226 .315 .452
2020Home .792 27 5 1 2 3 .250 .333 .458
2020Away .613 30 5 1 3 3 .154 .267 .346
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Stat Review
How does Brett Phillips compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.17
 
BB Rate
7.1%
 
K Rate
41.8%
 
BABIP
.233
 
ISO
.104
 
AVG
.144
 
OBP
.217
 
SLG
.249
 
OPS
.466
 
wOBA
.214
 
Exit Velocity
88.5 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
24.1%
 
Barrels/PA
2.2%
 
Expected BA
.156
 
Expected SLG
.244
 
Sprint Speed
23.9 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
32.1%
 
Line Drive %
23.6%
 
Fly Ball %
44.3%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
Phillips gained national notoriety with his game-winning hit in the 2020 World Series and has enjoyed both local and national popularity with his humble and entertaining personality. Unfortunately, those are not fantasy scoring categories. Phillips was somewhat productive as a bench player with 13 homers, 50 runs scored and 14 steals in fewer than 300 plate appearances, but was limited to that amount of playing time because of the limitations in his swing. He has a very specific swing path that struggles mightily against lefties as well as elevated pitches, so he is best utilized against the softer-tossing righties and always down in the lineup. Even if the Rays do trade Kevin Kiermaier, extra playing time for Phillips would simply overexpose him. He is a career .202 hitter over parts of five seasons and nearly 700 career PA.
Phillips began the season as a platoon outfielder for the Royals and ended it as a cult hero for the Rays in the World Series. In between, Phillips showed improved plate skills, but failed to take advantage with his weakest average exit velocity level of his career. His 25.4 K% was by far the lowest of his career, but a low .235 BABIP saddled him with a meek .196 average. Once a promising prospect with Milwaukee, Phillips has yet to translate those skills to the majors and the clock is ticking as he embarks on his age-27 season. In his favor is plus defense, elite sprint speed and an organization in the Rays adept at putting its personnel in positions to succeed. Unfortunately, those aren't fantasy-worthy qualities, even in an AL-only format.
Whatever shine he had left is gone, but Phillips should get another chance to prove himself as a big leaguer. Traded to Kansas City midway through 2018, Phillips began his first full season in the Royals organization at Triple-A Omaha. While he struck out too much (28.5%) and hit for a low average, Phillips tied for second in the Pacific Coast League with 72 walks and stole 22 bases in 23 attempts. In total, he was 12% better than the average PCL hitter. He finally got the call to the majors Aug. 16, and his success did not carry over. Phillips continued to walk at a healthy clip, but his batted-ball numbers (84.6 mph average exit velocity, 23.9% hard-hit per Statcast) were atrocious. Defense is his saving grace and his abilities on that side of the ball should afford Phillips time to figure something out at the dish. He's out of options, so expect him to be with the team in some capacity on Opening Day.
Phillips took a step back in 2018 after his successful major-league debut in 2017. Thanks to the Brewers' offseason acquisitions, he opened the season in Triple-A and spent the first half shuttling between the majors and minors. He struggled at both stops and was traded to Kansas City in July, and the change of scenery didn’t help. The 24-year-old ended up hitting a combined .187/.252/.306 across 51 games between the Brewers and Royals. Strikeouts were a major issue for Phillips once again, as he whiffed 31.4% of the time at Triple-A and 41.5% of the time in the majors. While he offers a modest combination of power and speed, it’s unclear if he’ll be able to make enough contact for those skills to manifest. Phillips should get plenty of chances for the rebuilding Royals as a plus defender in the outfield, though he could fall into a platoon given his career splits (.368 OPS against lefties, .728 OPS against righties).
A subpar 2016 campaign at the minor-league level dimmed Phillips' prospect star, but he made up the lost ground and then some in 2017, finding his stroke at Triple-A Colorado Springs and eventually earning a prominent role in center field with the big-league club over the season's final month. Phillips' rebound definitely got a boost from the thin air of Colorado, but his season on the whole helped move him back up prospect lists. Phillips appeared to be on the verge of competing for the Brewers' starting center field spot, but the acquisition of Lorenzo Cain rules that out and clouds his future some. Phillips doesn't handle left-handers particularly well, but he has a cannon for an arm and can play all three outfield spots, so he has an inside track to breaking camp with the big club -- as long as he is not packaged in a trade. He's going to leave something to be desired in the batting average category, but can contribute in both the power and speed areas, making him someone to consider later in drafts. Just don't expect him to play every day if he remains with the Brewers.
Phillips is one of Milwaukee's best defensive prospects, as he could be a plus defender in right field. Unfortunately, his offensive profile has backed up ever since the Brewers acquired him from Houston in the Carlos Gomez deal of 2015. He continues to show a little bit of power and speed, but has struggled mightily to make contact in recent seasons, posting a 29.8 percent strikeout rate during a return trip to Double-A. His strong plate discipline (13 percent walk rate last year), average power, average speed and high-end defense will likely be enough to get him to The Show, but his contact issues are getting pretty alarming, considering he does not possess a plus offensive tool. At 22 years old, Phillips was still two years younger than league average in the Southern League, and he has good makeup, so he could figure things out. However, his prospect stock has dipped to the point that he can be cut loose in leagues where 150 or fewer prospects are rostered.
Even though Domingo Santana is already in the major leagues, Phillips was the jewel of the Carlos Gomez trade last summer. The 21-year-old advanced to Double-A after making short work of High-A, as he homered 15 times in 66 games to earn the promotion. Phillips has a .295/.370/.487 line in 345 minor league games and has solid tools across the board. He's expected to be able to play a sharp major league center field, and while his power isn't elite, he has homered 33 times in the past two seasons. Speed is what makes Phillips as a prospect, though, as he has stolen 40 bases and hit a ridiculous 28 triples in the past two seasons. Phillips isn't expected to reach the majors until 2017, but if he starts out hot this season, he could earn himself a midseason callup to Milwaukee.
More Fantasy News
Seeking new opportunity
OFFree Agent
October 6, 2022
Phillips elected free agency Wednesday.
ANALYSIS
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Accepts outright assignment
OFBaltimore Orioles
August 21, 2022
Phillips cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk on Sunday, Zachary Silver of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Designated for assignment
OFBaltimore Orioles
August 19, 2022
Phillips was designated for assignment by the Orioles on Friday.
ANALYSIS
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Returns to reserve role
OFBaltimore Orioles
August 8, 2022
Phillips is out of the lineup for Monday's game against the Blue Jays, Zachary Silver of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Filling in for Austin Hays
OFBaltimore Orioles
August 7, 2022
Phillips will start in left field and bat eighth in Sunday's game against the Pirates, Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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