Cincinnati Reds: The 2010s All-Decade Team
By Bill Felber
All-Decade Cincinnati Reds Infield
Brandon Phillips, Second Base
- Years: 2010-2016
- HRs: 103
- Average OPS+: 99.
Awards: All-Star: 2010, 2011, 2013. Gold glove: 2010, 2011, 2013. Silver Slugger: 2011.
Phillips is the logical selection at second base…but he’s not quite the runaway pick Votto is alongside him at first.
He was regular from his acquisition in 2006 through a 2017 trade that sent him to Atlanta. Phillips had some big seasons, delivering 18 home runs annually from 2010 through 2013 and averaging 71 RBIs for the seven seasons this decade that he played in Cincinnati.
His three All-Star selections included selection as a starter in 2013 when he batted .261 with a personal best 103 RBIs. In 2012 he finished 13th in Most Valuable Player voting although – curiously — two teammates (Jay Bruce and Aroldis Chapman) finished ahead of him.
Phillips isn’t a slam dunk because his successor in the Reds infield, Scooter Gennett, performed credibly. Coming from Milwaukee as a waiver pickup prior to the 2017 season, Gennett enjoyed a solid two seasons, averaging 25 home runs and a .300 batting average.
In the end, Gennett takes a back seat to Phillips on the basis of duration: His two best seasons may have been better than any of Phillips’s, but Brandon’s tenure is impossible to overlook.