Recognizing Brandon Phillips (Joey Almars)

Being a Twins fan I have always been jealous of teams who have a strong middle infield particularly on the right side. The names that get most of the attention in the media revolve around guys like Pedroia, Kinsler, and Cano. But one guy who does not receive as much credit as he deserves is Brandon Phillips.

To start out, all these players are great at what they do, they deserve to be in the spot that they are at and I would be thrilled if any of them ever ended up with the Twins (one can always dream). But there is a reason why I think Phillips deservers more credit for his play, and that is consistency. Robinson Cano is a phenomenal player and he is consistently healthy throughout the year, which allows the Yankees to benefit even more from having this power hitting second basemen. This is where Pedroia and Kinsler have had their struggles. While they have been playing at such a high level when they are healthy, it is always in the back of my mind that they are going to get hurt. Kinsler has only gone over 130 games in a season 3 times due to injuries. Pedroia has not been as injury prone as Kinsler but he had 75 game season in 2010 due to a broken bone in his foot.

Brandon Phillips, upon arriving to the Reds in 2006 has never played less than 141 games in a season. With that health consistency he is also a stellar fielder with 3 Gold Glove Awards. He is one of those players, that when you watch him you can tell how much fun he is having playing baseball as his career. He is always smiling and this attitude provides a strong locker room presence and helps the fans (and I am sure the team) rally around him (kind of an infield version of Kirby Puckett to draw a comparison). He lights up the twitter world and is so open to giving fans an inside look at some of the behind the scenes in the life of a baseball player (Follow him @DatDudeBP).

On Monday Night he was responsible for hitting in all the runs in the Reds victory over the Cubs 6-2. With the grand slam in this game, he is one home run shy of passing Joe Morgan for most HR hit by a Reds second basemen. This was a night that highlights how strong of a year Phillips is having. He is top 3 for second basemen in Runs (38) and Home Runs (10) and is leading in RBIs (52). He is bringing extra power to a strong Reds team and is rocking a .293 Batting Average. He is having a great year and with these numbers I think that #4 will make a lot of people think about who they would rather have at the second base position. For me it is Dat Dude!