Former fan favorite Brewers outfield prospect reinventing himself as a pitcher

Back before the Milwaukee Brewers started making regular playoff appearances, they had an outfield prospect with an infectious laugh. The more fans got to know him, the more they started to love him.

That player was Brett Phillips, a former 6th round pick of the Houston Astros who came to the Brewers in a huge 2015 deal that also netted pitchers Josh Hader and Adrian Houser as well as fellow outfielder Domingo Santana. A couple years later, Phillips was making his MLB debut with Milwaukee.

Phillips would only play in 52 games for the Brewers before being traded again the year after his debut to the Kansas City Royals. He would bounce around a few teams over the course of seven MLB seasons, including a stop in Tampa Bay where he had a game-winning hit in the fourth game of the 2020 World Series against the Dodgers, a series that the Rays would unfortunately go on to lose.

Ultimately, Phillips wouldn't quite have the offense to stick in the majors, batting just .187 with a .619 OPS for his career. His last MLB action came at the end of last season when he had a brief stay with the Angels. He would latch on in the minors with the White Sox in 2024, but would be released in May and hasn't played in the minors since.

That led former Brewers outfielder Brett Phillips to reinvent himself as a pitcher.

Recently, word around the grapevine was that Phillips was trying to change careers and convert to a pitcher. Sure, there are fun videos out there of him as a position player pitching throwing a lighthearted 40 mph or so. But this was for real.

Then, video started circulating, such as this one from Pitching Ninja, of Phillips pitching in the National Baseball Congress World Series. All of a sudden, the former Brewers outfielder is on a mound throwing 97 mph heat!

Well, it didn't take very long for the baseball world to notice at all. On Tuesday, as was first reported by baseball journalist Francys Romero, the New York Yankees decided to take a chance on the new look Brett Phillips and signed him to a minor league contract.

If successful, this wouldn't even be the first time a Brewers position player converted to pitcher. Infielder Lucas Erceg became a two-way player before fully transitioning to pitcher and is now a very effective reliever for the Oakland A's.

Brewers fans will definitely be rooting from afar for Phillips to succeed in his new role as a pitcher. Hopefully that success doesn't some day come against MIlwaukee themselves, though.