TROY - Tri-City ValleyCats first baseman and designated hitter Denis Phipps keeps the baseball from his only major-league home run at his house in the Dominican Republic. He also has the ball from his first big-league hit, an infield single.
They are mementos of his brief stint in Major League Baseball - eight games as a September call-up for the Cincinnati Reds in 2012.
“It was good,” Phipps said Tuesday. “Every chance I got to play, it was like a dream come true, so I take advantage of every game they give me to play.”
Phipps, now 35 years old, should have many more memories from a longer MLB career, according to ValleyCats manager Pete Incaviglia, who is a 12-year big-league veteran.
“I’ll tell you, he has all the tools of guys that I played with in the big leagues for a long time,” Incaviglia said. “I’m comparing apples to apples. I’m surprised he didn’t have a long career in the major leagues. Very surprised, and I can’t tell you why.”
The ValleyCats open their first season in the independent Frontier League at the Sussex County (N.J.) Miners at 7:05 p.m. Thursday.
Out of affiliated baseball since 2014, Phipps has instead made a living in independent leagues, often teaming up with Incaviglia. He played for Incaviglia for a pair of American Association teams in Texas – Laredo from 2014 to 2016 and Sugar Land in 2018 and 2019.
They won league titles together in 2015 and 2018.
“I mean, he’s like a dad to me,” Phipps said. “He’s always been good to me and he told me, if you need a job and you have a job, you can come with me anytime you want.”
In 2019, Phipps had 21 homers and 81 RBI, good enough to be named Sugar Land’s MVP. He didn’t play last year because of the coronavirus pandemic and briefly considered retirement.
Deciding “I didn’t want to go out like that,” Phipps chose the ValleyCats over offers in the Atlantic League and Mexico.
“It’s great,” Phipps said. “It’s not the best situation that I want, but I’m here right now to grind like everybody.”
While just about every independent player aspires to get back into affiliated ball, it might be too late for Phipps. He’s the oldest player in ValleyCats history. Pitcher Edgar Gonzalez was 30 during his rehab start for Tri-City in 2013, when the team was still a Houston Astros affiliate with a younger roster.
Under Frontier League rules, teams may have three players 29 or older.
“If somebody needs some help maybe in Triple A or whatever, you know there’s always a chance,” Phipps said. “When you have the uniform on, you always have a chance. I’ve been putting up numbers wherever I go. If they want me there to play to help the team, why not?”
Incaviglia said he’ll count on Phipps and Dominican third baseman Juan Silverio, 30, for leadership as long as they’re in Tri-City. They played together in the Reds system and in Laredo and Sugar Land.
“It’s not just they’re great players on the field,” Incaviglia said. “It’s what they do in the clubhouse. They play the game the right way. They prepare the right way. They care. They have a lot of passion. You can’t teach that … If they do all the things the right way, what do you think the younger kids are going to do? They’re going to do the same thing.”
Phipps, who is married with three children, said he tries to set the right example by being the first player to show up for workouts and taking extra batting practice.
When he was a much younger prospect, Phipps got his first major-league hit on a single to second against the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Sept. 20, 2012. Three days later, Phipps hit an elevated sinker by Dodgers reliever Ronald Bellisario for a two-run homer to left in Cincinnati.
He was able to get the ball back from fan in exchange for a couple of bats and two signed hats.
Phipps became a free agent after the 2012 season and spent one year in the White Sox organization. Though Phipps agreed he should have had a longer MLB career, he tried to take it in stride.
“Sometimes the situation is not the best situation when you get to another level," he said. "As a baseball player, you’ve got to take what’s come to you and what’s the best for you,” he said. “I did what I was supposed to do, and it is what it is.”
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