Phillips’ explanation: “Not necessarily focused or all the way locked on pitching or on my pitches.”
Nonetheless, Phillips cruised through Fort Wayne’s lineup for five scoreless innings and earned his first victory with his new organization. The Dragons won 6-5 and Phillips struck out five and allowed two hits and three walks.
“For a first impression, I think it was pretty good,” said Garman, who saw Phillips pitch in a game for the first time. “I’m excited to watch him grow.”
The entire Reds’ organization and Reds’ fans are as well. Phillips was the player to be named later and fourth player the Reds got for trading all-stars Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez to Seattle late in spring training. He is considered the Reds’ No. 14 prospect by MLB.com.
The Reds also got right-hander Justin Dunn, who is on the injured list and has made 25 big-league starts, left-hander Brandon Williamson, the Reds’ No. 5 prospect who’s starting the season in AA Chattanooga, and outfielder Jake Fraley, who started in right field for the Reds on Friday.
Dragons second baseman Jose Torres liked playing behind Phillips.
“He’s a competitor and it’s very fun to play behind him because he works fast, works in the zone,” Torres said. “Just awesome.”
Garman’s job is to get know his pitchers’ physical abilities and mental approach. He got a picture of both Friday and saw how both mesh.
“Hard not to be impressed with the stuff, right?” Garman said.
Phillips’ fastball reached 97 mph and finished off strikeouts with breaking pitches.
“The profiles on all of his pitches, the velocities, it’s pretty elite stuff,” Garman said. “I watched him warm up in the bullpen, and I watched him throw a bullpen the other day, and he carried it over into the game as I would have expected or hoped.”
The walks, though more than he’s used to allowing, did not bother Phillips.
“Because even then it was pretty good pitches during the at-bat, so I’m not really worried about it,” he said.
Garman said he saw a polished quality to Phillips’ approach. He didn’t see a 20-year-old relying on his stuff as 20-year-olds often do.
“His ability to go from pitch to pitch and not lose it, and I also thought that as the game went his fastball command improved,” Garman said. “For a guy who has elite stuff like that, I don’t know if you see that out of a kid his age with stuff like that. And he was able to really, really stay around the zone all night and mix his pitches.”
Torres saw a competitive streak in Phillips, but Garman said it’s not the fiery kind most pitchers exhibit.
“At the risk of making it sound like a bad thing, he’s kind of a low-motor guy, he’s a very laid-back kind of guy,” Garman said. “Some guys get out there and they get ramped up and they rely on a shot of adrenaline. He doesn’t. He keeps everything really low. Generally, that’s a good thing.”
Garman said Phillips’ confidence, which is obvious when they talk, is a reason why his young pitcher excels without needing anything extra emotionally.
“The cool thing about it is you have a guy who has what he has and did what he did tonight,” Garman said. “And the whole point of all this is to make him better, so if he gets better, it’s going to be a good show.”
On opening night, it was a winning show.
TUESDAY’S GAME
Dayton at Lake County, 6:35 p.m., 980
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