Aaron Phillips was hoping to spend his May in Virginia, racking up innings with the Richmond Flying Squirrels and developing as a pitcher. It would have been a nice change of pace from San Jose, where he spent the 2019 season far away from friends and family.
Instead, Phillips is back home in Cheektowaga, lifting weights with his brother Tyler (a junior baseball player at Fredonia State) and attempting to stay in shape away from major-league facilities. The Cleveland Hill graduate will be the first one to tell you that taking it easy has never been his style.
What You Need To Know
- Cheektowaga native Aaron Phillips spent last season with San Francisco Giants High-A affiliate in San Jose
- Phillips is Cleveland Hill’s all-time leader in strikeouts, and was the 2017 A-10 Pitcher of the Year at St. Bonaventure
- Phillips was a 9th-round draft pick of the San Francisco Giants in 2017
“Coming from Cleve Hill, which obviously isn’t a huge baseball powerhouse, I played seven nights a week in three leagues in Buffalo,” Phillips said. “Just so I could get reps.”
That approach helped Phillips pitch three solid seasons at St. Bonaventure, culminating in a junior season that saw him win A-10 Pitcher of the Year and become a ninth-round draft pick by the San Francisco Giants.
“I got used a lot there,” he said. “I threw a hundred innings my junior year, so my arm was ready. It was nice, because 100 innings in a college season is packed into like two and a half months.”
After he was drafted in 2017, Phillips has worked his way through San Francisco’s Single-A affiliates; short-season Single-A as a rookie, Low-A in 2018, and High-A last summer. He’s proud of his performance on the west coast, and says the Giants front office understands the limitations of pitching in a hitter’s ballpark and a hitter’s league.
“Balls just fly out there. Ballparks are a little smaller. People are going to square you up every once in a while. It happens,” Phillips said after compiling a 9-7 record in 22 starts. “But the biggest adjustment I had to make was limiting free stuff.”
Phillips’ goal was to begin this year in Double-A, putting him two promotions away from the majors as a 23-year-old. While Richmond is not exactly a short drive from Cheektowaga, it’s significantly closer than where he’s spent the last few seasons.
“It’s not like I’m expecting everyone to come to every game and see me. But after games, on the West Coast, it’s 11, 12 when you get done with a game,” he said. “Which means it’s two, three in the morning here.”
The Richmond Flying Squirrels play in the Eastern League, a group of Double-A teams that include the Erie SeaWolves and Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Both cities could prove opportunities for friends and family to see the young Cheektowagan throw on the mound before a potential promotion to Triple-A.