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Astros prospect Brett Phillips had a breakout year in the organizations farm system. In Quad Cities, the Astros Class-A affiliate, he posted a .394 wOBA and a 148 wRC+ in 103 games. Those numbers included 13 home runs, 68 runs scored, 58 RBI, and 18 stolen bases.
He was promoted towards the end of the season to high Class-A Lancaster. There he posted a .425 wOBA and a 156 wRC+ in 27 games. Those numbers included 4 home runs, 19 runs, 10 RBI, and five stolen bases. Yes, Lancaster is a high run environment, but those are still pretty good numbers, especially, considering Phillips was 20 years old last season. The dude is starting to meet expectations that some saw in his raw talent.
Not only is he an excellent ball player, but Phillips is considered by many to be a high character guy (including us). Don't let the fact that he came on the podcast during the offseason fool you into thinking we're biased (we are). He's one of the few players that recognized Brooks and I as we walked around the backfield. He could have easily ignored us and gone about his business, but he took note of us and asked us how we were doing as went to his next drill (so dreamy).
While we were in Spring Training, one of the pleasant surprises we got was a Phillips at bat during a major league Spring Training game at the Braves facility in Orlando, Florida. He did not disappoint:
That's me going "OOOOO" as Phillips hit a no-doubt home run over the right field wall. It didn't just clear the fence it destroyed some tents sitting behind it.
Needless to say (I'm going to say it anyway) I'm looking forward to seeing what Brett Phillips can do this season.