“Baseball is boring.”

Brandon Phillips is serious, writes Justin Williams of Cincinnati Magazine. He professes this with a smirk, arching his eyebrows ever so slightly as he speaks, but the man means what he says. “You’re standing out there, waiting for the pitcher to pitch. I’m at second base like, Ah, geez, it’s gonna be a long game. Can we speed this up?”

And then he pauses, cracking that signature smile beneath the brim of his snapback Bubba Gump Shrimp hat, his teeth as sparkling white as the v-neck T-shirt he’s wearing. “But the thing is, I love playing it.”

In the newest feature of Cincinnati Magazine Brandon tries to explain how he makes baseball as fun as possible even to the casual fan who thinks the sport is boring. Brandon talks about his love for his fans, having no filter, playing “with a lot of swag”, being honest, the key to a good defense, rivalries and the future. Read the full article here. Check out BP’s August magazine cover below and pick up your copy coming out in a store near you.