ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The box scores are not always kind to the Happiest Man in Baseball.
The batting average mocks him, the strikeouts weigh on him, and the doubts follow him from game to game. Think this job is all hosannas and high-fives? Try smiling through an 0-for-28 stretch while your team is fighting to hang on to a playoff spot. Ponder the pressure of a season-long slump that coincides with the first major pay bump of your major-league career.
Look at the ever-present smile on Brett Phillips’ face, and imagine the pain burrowed behind it.
“It’s been an absolute grind,” Phillips said. “The toughest, probably, part of my career that I’ve ever had to go through.”
He says this while standing in front of a name plaque in his locker that identifies Phillips as Chief Baseball is Fun Officer. And, on this night, the game really was a riot again. The Rays had beaten the Red Sox 10-5 on Monday, with Phillips making a highlight-of-the-year worthy catch in centerfield and getting his first base hit since June 19.
It was not enough to erase the struggles that came before it, but it helped to reinforce the attitude that led to it. For as brutal as the first half has been for Phillips, he has refused to give in to petulance. He has kept aggravation and self-pity an arm’s length away.
Oh, there are nights when he wants to kick over a trash can. There are moments when frustration creeps across his brow.
But Phillips, 28, has been through similar moments before. He’s been benched, demoted, traded and forgotten. In some ways, his career has been one long slog trying to prove he can hit at this level.
The one constant has been his dynamic spirit. That, and his sterling glove. Phillips is as well-known for his exuberance on the field as he is for the 300-plus games he has played across six seasons.
So why would he let something like a .148 batting average beat him now?
“Statistically, this is the worst I’ve ever played. But that’s okay, right? I’ve got to be happy and joyful. I’ve got to have perspective,” Phillips said. “I’m still playing professional baseball. I’m going to take advantage of that. I’m getting kicked in the teeth but I’m going to embrace that and tell myself that I don’t care what anyone else has to say.
“I’m going to freaking show up tomorrow and be a good teammate and work hard just because I want this. I want it so bad.”
The frustration got a head start on Phillips because he came into the season so hopeful. He had career highs in hits, home runs, RBIs and stolen bases in 2021. For the first time since his rookie season in Milwaukee in 2017, his OPS+, as measured by baseballreference.com, suggested he was an above-average hitter in the league.
He was arbitration-eligible for the first time, which meant his salary jumped from near the league minimum to $1.4 million. With the increase in pay, the Seminole High graduate knew there would be additional pressure to live up to his salary and he was determined to build on the gains he made last season.
Instead, his strikeout rate is up while his walk and home run rates are way down.
With his batting average drifting into territory usually reserved for pitchers, Phillips has begun tinkering with his swing. Instead of standing straight up at the plate, he is in more of a crouch and he’s lowered his hands.
After his second at-bat on Monday, when he drove the ball to deep leftfield, Kevin Kiermaier approached Phillips in the dugout with a video tablet and told him the adjustments he was making at the plate were paying off for him and to stick with it.
In his next at-bat, Phillips hit a hard liner to leftfield, then singled to right in the eighth.
“I told KK after the game how much of a professional (he is) and how much I appreciate him,” Phillips said.
He’s still got a long way to go. After Monday night’s game, Phillips could have gone 10-for-10 and his batting average would still be below .200.
But, for one night, he had something to celebrate and that was good enough. His perpetual optimism has gotten him this far in the game, and Phillips said there is no reason to abandon that now.
“Everyone who has come before me has gone through something like this, and everyone who comes after me is going to experience it, too,” Phillips said. “So, while it’s happening to me, I’m going to choose to continue being this guy.”
