Though it may not seem as unorthodox, Brandon Phillips made a positional change as foreign to him as Freddie Freeman’s move to third base in early July.
In fact, Freeman spent more time at third base in the minors than Phillips did. Freeman played five games at the hot corner in rookie ball in 2007. Phillips played one game there in 2001 for the Double-A affiliate of the Montreal Expos.
Sixteen years and 1,844 games later, Phillips made his debut at third base on Wednesday night against the Dodgers. He didn’t get an opportunity to field a ball, but did make an impressive play when he cut off Danny Santana’s throw to the plate on a run-scoring single by Chase Utley in the fifth inning. Phillips jumped in front of the throw and fired it over to Ozzie Albies to tag out Utley trying to take an extra base.
“You know what, that’s a great play,” manager Brian Snitker said. “To cut that ball and get the third out and get off the field … you know, let us score two runs. We gave them one, but we get ourselves in a position to come back and score two. That’s a heads-up play.”
The only other action that Phillips saw came in the fourth inning when Nick Markakis attempted to throw out a tagging Chris Taylor at third base. Phillips handled the throw well and applied the tag, but a fraction too late in a bang-bang play.
Albies, who applied the tag on Phillips’ assist, is now the man fielding Phillips’ old position. As one of the Braves’ top prospects, the team announced Tuesday that he’d be sent up to take over at the spot the organization hopes to see him at for many years. A pending free agent, Phillips is being asked to play an unfamiliar position to help Atlanta field the young guys it’s counting on for the future.
Phillips declined to speak with reporters before and after the game.
His only other experience outside of second base in his career has come at shortstop, though in limited time. He’s played six games there, with two being starts. In 20 innings, he made two errors. Phillips, a four-time Gold Glove winner has accumulated 51 defensive runs saved and a .988 fielding percentage in 1,802 games at second base.
Snitker feels that the transition for Phillips will come naturally.
“He’s a baseball player,” he said. “He slows the game down unbelievably and sees that kind of stuff. I watched him in the early work and you watch … during batting practice he was working at it. I think he’s going to be fine over there.”
