Floundering Reds prospect gets reboot after 2024 season went off the rails

The Cincinnati Reds promoted Rhett Lowder to Triple-A Louisville on Tuesday. After dominating the competition at High-A Dayton and proving his worth at Double-A Chattanooga, the former first-round pick is one step closer to the big leagues. Lowder will make his Triple-A debut on Thursday night.

But Lowder wasn't the only Reds prospect to join the Louisville Bats roster on Tuesday. Former Seattle Mariners farmhand and Reds' pitching prospect Connor Phillips re-joined the Bats after a respite at the team's training facility in Arizona.

Phillips is scheduled to take the mound for Louisville on Wednesday and all eyes will be on the right-hander to see if his time in Goodyear did any good. Phillips endured an incredibly difficult stretch since his 2024 campaign began, and Reds are hopeful that the reset will help get the right-hander back on track.

Floundering Reds prospect Connor Phillips gets reboot after 2024 season went off the rails

There was a chance, albeit a small one, that Phillips could've broken camp with the Reds this spring. The right-hander made his big league debut late last season, and the lasting memory will unfortunately be him walking the first three batters he faced in a do-or-die game for the Reds against the St. Louis Cardinals last September.

But things haven't gotten any better for Phillips. In fact, they're much worse. The Reds added Nick Martinez and Frankie Montas this past offseason, which effectively pushed Phillips to Triple-A to start the season. The 23-year-old failed to impress and his control wasn't any better than when we last saw him on the bump.

Phillips made five starts in April and owned a 9.00 ERA with 16 walks and 17 strikeouts in 20 inning of work. In May, things got worse, as Phillips allowed 19 runs on just 22 hits. It wasn't the long ball that was haunting Phillips, but the free passes. Phillips posted an insane 21.3% walk rate in May with a strikeout rate of only 16.7%.

Something was terribly wrong, and after four starts in June didn't yield much better results, the Reds took extreme measures and sent Phillips to Arizona. During his trip to the desert, Phillips has faced live batters and has been working on his craft with hopes of returning to form. He'll get the chance to prove himself tonight at Louisville Slugger Field.

The Reds really need Phillips to find some semblance of the player who offered so much promise not that long ago. Phillips was a top-100 prospect heading into the season, but he doesn't even rank among the top-15 prospects organizationally according to MLB Pipeline. These final few weeks of the 2024 season are crucial for Phillips and his future with the Reds.

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