Developing baseball and business skills

Phillips grew up about 15 miles from Tropicana Field in Seminole. He spent much of his youth attending Rays games, at least until he was drafted by the Astros out of Seminole High. He made his MLB debut with the Brewers in 2017 and was acquired by the Rays from Kansas City in 2020.

Phillips played 210 of his 393 career MLB games with his hometown team, and launched what was easily the most memorable of his 31 career home runs. If all of that wasn’t awesome enough, which it certainly was, working for his hometown team is something that is difficult to put into words.

“Full circle,” he said. “You know, coming here as a kid who absolutely loved the Rays and the game of baseball, and now this? The pride I feel is tremendous and I am so blessed. How can I not pinch myself and say, ‘Wow, this is incredible.’”

The business of baseball is something that has long intrigued Phillips, which is a byproduct of how he was raised. His mother, Jody, moved from Illinois when she was 13 and put in nearly four decades working for Clearwater-based Frontline Communications. She ascended into a senior management role in what, at least earlier in her career, was a male dominated field.

“She started at 17 years of age as a filing girl,” Phillips noted with tremendous pride. “Her work ethic and her joy in what she always did is the reason why I am where I am today."

Phillips’ father, also named Brett – the father is Brett James Phillips and the son is Brett Maverick Phillips, a middle name that is commonly used among family and friends – is a Connecticut native who the younger Phillips describes as having been an “entrepreneur” and a “businessman.” Put it all together, and it is easy to understand how he built strong business acumen even as he was building a strong physical skillset that led to the big leagues.

“In a sense, I have had a business background from observing my parents,” he said. “As a player, I always made it a point throughout my career to observe people around me who were working in different roles in baseball. They were people who I respected, or who I felt did a great job in whatever area they were working. I attempted to observe what they were doing, and I wanted to take a little piece from each of them and put those pieces in my back pocket.”

Phillips intrigued by what fans have to say

Many Rays fans have been making their way to the ballpark since the team’s inaugural season of 1998. What drives a fan to return year after year after year? Is it the quality of the on-field product? Is it a favorite player or two? Is it simply the love of baseball? Phillips wanted to discover the answers from long-time season ticket holders.

“With some of them, the reasons are ‘time with my dad’ and ‘time with my kids through the years,’” he said. “People come here to get quality time together without any of the noise.”

The lack of noise can be inviting especially if it is someone taking in a game with little concern for more than one’s thoughts.

“I chatted with a businessman who comes here by himself, and he said, ‘When I’m here at a baseball game, I’ve had the best ideas come to mind,” Phillips recalled. “I asked him why, and he said it is because this is his happy place. I found it quite interesting that many of the reasons that keep bringing people back are not necessarily tied to the players themselves.”

While Junior Caminero can be excused for interrupting those lost in reverie with yet another 400-foot blast, and the foghorn that is likely heard a couple of miles away at Albert Whitted Airport, Phillips has come to understand there is much more taking place than the crack of the bat and painting of the corners.

“The game doesn’t necessarily revolve around us, and we may at times think it does, or all of the time think it does,” he said. “I say that lightheartedly, but also seriously. There are so many more activations and so many more cool things to do that maybe many fans are not necessarily here to watch the game. Maybe they’re here for another reason. I found that very interesting.”

Phillips retired as a player on his terms

When the White Sox released Phillips from a minor league deal in May 2024, three weeks before his 30^th birthday, he was not ready to pack it in. Not with that right arm of his.

“What every coach told me is that, from the outfield, I had the strongest arm they’ve ever seen,” he said. “That’s what got me drafted.”

That’s what got him thinking about taking the mound.

“I hadn’t pitched since Little League,” he said. “I didn’t even throw an inning in high school, but I always had a great arm. So, at the end of my career, for me to look myself in the mirror and say I exhausted every option to play this game that I love, I needed to at least pursue it.”

Following consultation with his wife, which was a formality because of how supportive Brianna has always been, it was time to toe the rubber and give it his all.

Phillips’ effort at the National Baseball Congress World Series in July 2024 with a Texas-based team led to the Yankees signing him, and he made one appearance that season with the Class A Tampa Tarpons. Phillips signed with the independent Kane County (Ill.) Cougars in 2025 and appeared in four games, allowing 11 earned runs in three innings. Though a torn labrum did not help matters, the challenges of transitioning to being a pitcher led to retiring as a player.

“It was just too much at the ripe age of 31,” said Phillips, who mopped up in four games with the Rays and one with the Angels. “I could throw a good fastball when I felt good, but other than that, I would not have been able to make it.”

But he gave it a shot, which is what he wanted to do.

“I left the game the way I wanted to leave the game, and that was having fun pitching,” he said.

Phillips is now pitching the Rays and having an absolute blast the minute he walks into Tropicana Field a few hours before game time.

“It’s crazy that this is my job,” he said.