Milwaukee Brewers: Brett Phillips Exemplifies Class

The Milwaukee Brewers optioned Brett Phillips to minor league camp, as expected. There simply is no room on the roster for him at the moment.

Throughout all of camp, Phillips and his big personality were something to watch. The Milwaukee Brewers have a budding media star on their hands, and he isn’t too shabby on the baseball field either. It is just a matter of when he gets the real call.

Phillips is someone that every fan can buy into. He just loves what he does for a living, and he is not afraid to show it. But, it can be a tough business. In a matter of 90 minutes, Phillips went from being in the conversation to start this season to being an odd man out.

Spring Training 2018

For awhile, this was very underwhelming for the young outfielder. By the time he was sent down, Phillips knocked two homers while hitting a meager .143 in almost 50 at bats. Both homers came during his last week in MLB camp.

Just before his offensive breakout, he made a comment comparing himself to a squirrel. Prior to that, his batting average sat below .100. There is clear reason to be frustrated, but part of Phillips being Phillips is finding the lighter side of things. His Twitter followers know that all too well. For example when he strikes out and slams his bat:

Getting Optioned

Then the news came of Phillips being optioned down. It is not a surprise by any means, but still stings a little for the players who were on the bubble. But in a way that only Brett Phillips can, he found the humor in this unfortunate situation.

Not only is it humor, he truly wants success for the Milwaukee Brewers and he knows one day that will involve him. Until then, he is still a professional baseball player. He will be back in the majors too.

Some situations are just bad. With the acquisition of Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich, there is just no room for a ton of outfielders. The Brewers roster has talent at that position to spare, and right now, Phillips is that spare. But, as you can guess, he knows the situation he is in and he handled it with the utmost class.

Brett Phillips Future

There is no doubt in my mind that Phillips will be a star somewhere. It could be for the Milwaukee Brewers, or it could be just on social media like Tim Dillard. But it is hard to have the success that Phillips did last year and then be back where you started. The 23 year old outfielder is taking a very mature approach to everything though.

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It is just one more reason to love Brett Phillips. I am a huge fan, and I hope he finds his way back to Miller Park sooner rather than later. After seeing him blast a homer against the St. Louis Cardinals in person during 162 last season, he looks like the real deal to me. He just needs his one honest shot to claim his role, and he will not let go.