Brandon Phillips seldom lacked for confidence, but being designated for assignment by the Cleveland Indians in 2006 after a productive spring training sapped him of his exuberance for the game.
Phillips was a highly rated prospect seeking consistent playing time after just 135 games with Cleveland from 2002-2005. In 2006, he ran out of opportunities with Cleveland and was designated for assignment after what he described as the best spring training of his career.
“They called me ‘franchise’ because I was supposed to be the future over there,” Phillips said. “The spring training I had with the Indians in 2006 was the best I ever had. I thought I was going to make the team. I thought I was going to be ‘the guy.’ And then, next thing you know, I ended up getting designated … felt like a failure for the first time in my career.”
Then, the Cincinnati Reds stepped forward to take Phillips before his name hit the waiver wire. The Reds swapped a “player to be named later,” who ended up being pitcher Jeff Stevens.
Stevens never played a game for Cleveland. Phillips played more than 1,600 games for Cincinnati, and he became an immediate impact player, too, as he saw action in 149 games for the 2006 Reds and hit .276 with 148 hits.
In 2007, Phillips’ name was on the fringes of the National League Most Valuable Player award conversation, and he received votes for the honor. The Cincinnati chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) voted Phillips the Ernie Lombardi Award winner as the team MVP. That season, he hit .288 with 187 hits, 30 of which were home runs. At that point, he was well on his way to an award-winning, 11-year stay with the Reds where he helped lead the club back to the postseason.
The trade was executed on Cincinnati’s end by then-general manager Wayne Krivsky. Phillips said the call from Krivsky informing him of the deal “changed my whole career, period.” Some consider the trade one of the best in the long history of the Reds franchise. Many others considered it the biggest steal of a trade in team history.
Cleveland.com’s Paul Hoynes would later write that organization’s trade of Phillips damaged the Indians.
Phillips helped the Reds return to the postseason multiple times. The local BBWAA writers voted Phillips team MVP three times. He won four Rawlings Gold Glove awards in Cincinnati, and his electrifying defensive flair made him a regular on ESPN SportsCenter’s nightly top-10 plays segment.
“I was just playing the game, being flashy,” Phillips said. “Baseball was boring as hell to me, so I was basically just playing the game the best way I know how.”
Pitcher Aaron Harang, a teammate of Phillips who is also a member of the Reds Hall of Fame 2026 class, said having Phillips behind him defensively was a relief.
“It was pretty nice to be able to have a guy there that, the ball goes his direction and pretty much everything routine was getting made,” Harang said. “You’re also gonna get a highlight reel on top of that, at times, of just spectacular glove work and plays made up the middle or in the 3-4 hole to help save a run here and there
“To have that backing you up was always amazing. What he did at the plate and the excitement and energy he just brought was definitely a contagious thing. You definitely played off of it as teammates.”
Phillips was one of the prominent social media athlete-stars on Twitter in his era, and his boisterous social media presence was backed up by on-field results as he was also a three-time MLB All-Star during his Reds career (2010-2011, 2013). He accomplished that feat during an era in the National League when he was competing for the honor against the likes of Philadelphia’s Chase Utley, a possible future Hall of Famer, Miami’s Dan Uggla and San Francisco’s Jeff Kent.
Even as the honors accumulated and his reputation for consistency was cemented, Phillips said he never thought of himself as carving out a place in Reds history during his playing days. Rather, he appreciated the greatness around him and looked looked up to the likes of Ken Griffey Jr. early in his Reds career. The two men overlapped in Cincinnati from 2006-2008. Phillips said he also admired his manager, Dusty Baker, and credited Scott Rolen with teaching the team how to win.
Whether Phillips anticipated ascending to the heights of the Reds Hall of Fame or not, his name is now etched in club history.
“For me to be inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame, it really means a lot,” Phillips said. “I’m happy that I can say that I’m here. Just to be in the class with everybody that’s going in right now, it’s a blessing. And also for the people that were before me in the Reds Hall of Fame, when I was with the Reds, for me to go see them have their speeches and meet everybody, you know, one of my favorite Reds is Eric Davis. Barry Larkin. I have a lot of stories and I have a lot of history, and for me to say ‘I’m a Red for life,’ it really means a lot.”
Brandon Phillips highlights
- MLB All-Star (2010-2011, 2013), Rawlings Gold Glove winner (2008, 2010-2011, 2013), Silver Slugger winner (2011)
- BBWAA Cincinnati chapter Ernie Lombardi Award (team MVP) (2007, 2009, 2012)
- Leads all Reds second basemen in hits (1,744), doubles (311), home runs (191) and RBI (851)
- 12th all-time in Reds home runs (191, tied with Eugenio Suárez)
- Fourth all-time in home runs at Great American Ball Park (113)
- Led Reds in games played in 2007 (158), 2009 (153) and 2010 (155)
Brandon Phillips statistics with Reds
1,614 games
.279 batting average
877 runs scored
851 RBI
311 doubles
32 triples
191 home runs
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: ‘I’m a Red for life.’ Brandon Phillips reflects on road to Reds Hall of Fame