Rookie right-hander Evan Phillips grew up dreaming about pitching for the Orioles and spent the past three years working his way up through the Atlanta Braves minor league system, so he had some understandably mixed feelings when he found out he was being traded to Baltimore earlier this week.
“I was very shocked,” he said. “I was very surprised about it. I was just a huge Orioles fan growing up, so it’s a dream come true in ways and heartbreaking in others. I’m just very excited to be here and my family was very happy to hear about the news.