69. Brandon Phillips
| Played as Red | Primary Position | Career Rank | Peak Rank | Prime Rank |
| 2006-2010 | 2B | 79 | 73 | 48 |
| Percent Breakdown of Value | Best Season | Best player on Reds | ||
| Hit | Field | Pitch | 2010 | Never |
| 67% | 33% | 0% | ||
| Awards/Honors as a Red | Leading the League | On the Reds Leaderboard | ||
| Gold Glove – 2008, 2010 All Star – 2010 |
N/A |
-22nd in career home runs |
||
In 2010, Brandon Phillips ended his three-year-long streak of at least 20 HR and 20 SB, falling short in both categories. Paradoxically, it also ended up being his most valuable season. Part of this was due to his near-flawless defense (three errors), and part was due to decreased offensive levels in the NL making his 18 HR/16 SB worth more than they would be in previous years, and part was due to subtle changes in Phillips’s game. Over the last two years, Phillips’s strikeout rates have come down significantly, and while his home runs are down, doubles and singles are up (BP ranked 10th in the NL in singles in 2010). Ranking 7th in runs scored in 2010 may serve as further evidence of Phillips attempting to fit his game within the team’s needs…perhaps spurred by no longer being one of the team’s offensive alpha dogs.
Phillips’s in-season performance is plenty volatile, but at season’s end, it’s another year of being a consistently above average second baseman. On the basis of his 2010 season, Phillips jumps from #98 to #69, and rises one notch on the list of top second basemen in team history.
The Top 15 Second Basemen in Reds history
1 Joe Morgan
2 Bid McPhee
3 Lonny Frey
4 Miller Huggins
5 Johnny Temple
6 Ron Oester
7 Brandon Phillips
8 Hughie Critz
9 Bret Boone
10 Dick Egan
11 Sam Bohne
12 Tommy Helms
13 Pokey Reese
14 Morrie Rath
15 Tony Cuccinello