The Tampa Bay Rays let position player Brett Phillips pitch for two innings on Monday night against the Oakland A’s in a blowout, and it was certainly entertaining (as it always is from him).
The highlight of the outing was easily an absolutely ridiculous defensive play Phillips made on a pop-up (after he threw a 49 mph pitch).
Oakland’s Seth Brown hit a pop-up into foul territory near the third-base dugout. Phillips sprinted a long way, before sliding a long way, and made an incredible catch.
This is absurd, and you can see why Phillips is an excellent defensive outfielder:
Brett Phillips = must see tv pic.twitter.com/m2OaGuieJw
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 12, 2022
Phillips’ first inning of work featured just five pitches. He capped off the scoreless inning with a double-play ball.
5 pitch inning for America's favorite two-way player pic.twitter.com/Ui3DdT0Ud1
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 12, 2022
On the first out of that inning, Phillips told Oakland’s Cristian Pache to hit the weight room after a deep flyout.
Brett Phillips telling Pache to hit the Weight Room 😂
h/t @KleinschmidtJD pic.twitter.com/toO7MTcooI
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 12, 2022
The second inning of work didn’t go as smoothly for Phillips. Oakland’s Sheldon Neuse cranked a grand slam off a 44 mph heater from Phillips.
https://twitter.com/MrMatthewCFB/status/1513691069397053440
We got a little bit of everything — except velocity — in those two innings.
Related: https://thecomeback.com/mlb/mlb-world-mesmerized-by-butt-hbp.htmlMLB world mesmerized by butt HBP
