PHOENIX – If there was any chance that Brandon Phillips could be traded, the Diamondbacks probably wish the deal would happen as soon as possible. Like, yesterday.
Phillips, you see, has done some serious hitting against the Diamondbacks over the years, right up through last week when the 36-year-old second baseman went 7-for-12 with five doubles, a home run and four RBIs in the Braves’ three-game sweep against Arizona last week.
He was 12-for-28 (.429) with eight extra-base hits (one triple, one homer), six RBIs and only one strikeout in a seven-game hitting streak since the All-Star break entering Monday night’s series opener at Arizona.
And even though there has long been speculation the Braves would move Phillips before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, trade rumors died rather than increase as the deadline drew near.
Braves second-base prospect Ozzie Albies is still working on his left-handed swing at Triple-A Gwinnett, where he was thriving against lefties, but hitting just .257 with a .309 OPS against right-handers before Monday. And Phillips has exceeded most expectations with the Braves since the Stone Mountain-raised veteran was acquired in a trade a week before sprining training from the Reds, who are paying all but $1 million of his $14 million salary.
There isn’t a big trade market for second baseman and there are a couple of others available. That, plus the fact that the Braves are trying to continue their solid play over the past three months and he’s been a big part of that, are reasons they haven’t been shopping the charismatic Phillips, who also has a limited no-trade clause that includes 12 teams to which he can’t be traded without his approval.
He’ll be a free agent after the season and Phillips has said he’d like to stay with the Braves. While that still seems unlikely, having him around for the rest of the season seems a real possibility.
Which brings us back to Arizona and the series that started Monday. Since the beginning of the 2016 season, Phillips hit .471 (16-for-34) in nine games against Arizona before Monday with six doubles, two home runs, nine RBIs and a 1.337 OPS. It’s worth nothing, the homers were at Arizona and SunTrust Park, not Cincinnati’s bandbox of a ballpark.
In his past 37 games against the Diamondbacks, he had batted .326 (46-for-141) with 20 extra-base hits (six home runs), 27 RBIs, a .362 OBP and .560 slugging percentage (.923 OPS), and in 28 games at Arizona over the past decade (since beginning of 2007) he hit .315 with 10 doubles, six homers, 23 RBIs and a .949 OPS.
He has a career .290 average and .516 slugging percentage in 32 games at Arizona’s Chase Field before Monday.
