Phillip Ervin Vows To Shed Label

GOODYEAR, Ariz.—Outfielder Phillip Ervin, the 2013 first-round pick, has heard the dreaded “B” word—for bust—and he doesn’t care.

“That makes me want to succeed more,” said Ervin, whom the Reds selected 27th overall out of Samford. “I want to prove them wrong.”

At 24, Ervin was in big league camp for the second time in his career. The Reds added him to the 40-man roster last November and optioned him to Triple-A Louisville during the final week of spring training.

After a hot start at Rookie-level Billings and low Class A Dayton—where he hit .349 in 12 games—in his draft year, Ervin stumbled in 2014. He hit just .237/.305/.376 in a full season at Dayton.

Though Ervin has moved up the organizational ladder the past two seasons, playing at high Class A Daytona and Double-A Pensacola, he hasn’t hit better than .242.

Of the 33 players taken in the first round of the 2013 draft, 11 have at least made their big league debuts—and No. 2 overall pick Kris Bryant already has claimed an MVP award with the Cubs.

The majority of first-round picks make the majors, so the odds remain in Ervin’s favor.

“No one is going to feel bad for (first-round picks),” farm director Jeff Graupe said. “There are tremendous advantages that come, especially early in their career, with being selected higher.

“But there is pressure that goes with that, as well. When you take a player in the first round, you hope he has the mental makeup to be able to handle that. There’s an expectation that can almost be unfair, at times.”

This winter, Ervin decided that the pressure of expectations was holding him back. He made a conscious decision to forget about it—to forget the expectations from himself and others, and do what came naturally: playing baseball.

“I felt like I was always going up there trying to force the numbers, instead of just playing and having fun like I used to,” Ervin said.

RED HOTS

• Righthander Nick Hanson, the 2016 third-round pick out of high school, will have Tommy John surgery.

• Second baseman Dilson Herrera didn’t play in the field until the final week of camp because of a chronically sore shoulder.

— C. Trent Rosecrans covers the Reds for the Cincinnati Enquirer