Mason Phillips Returns To Nighthawks Bullpen For 2026

by: Thaddeus Sawyer

Right-handed pitcher Mason Phillips will rejoin the back end of the Upper Valley bullpen in 2026, adding another returning late-inning arm for the Nighthawks.

Phillips spent last summer with the Nighthawks and appeared in nine games, throwing the final inning of Upper Valley’s 2025 campaign in their second playoff contest against Keene.

2025 was also a year of firsts for Phillips, who flew in a plane for the first time and traveled past North Carolina from his home state of Georgia for the first time to come to the East Coast and play in the NECBL.

“I tell all the people down here, I wish they'd got to experience what I got to experience,” Phillips said in April. “I would say to anybody thinking about going up to play there that I would definitely recommend it. I was in a spot where I didn't know if I wanted to go to play last year just because it was so far away from home, but … that was probably the best experience I've had during the summer. I wouldn't give it up for anything.”

Though the team’s playoff run lasted only two games last season, Phillips said that the 2026 squad has the makeup of a team that could make a postseason push.

“Coming into this year, I think the core group of guys, … I think we've got some good leadership coming back,” Phillips said. 

Phillips, who is currently in the transfer portal, began his college career at Coastal Alabama Community College - North before transferring to the University of West Georgia prior to his junior season. In 2025, Phillips pitched to a 3.60 ERA over 15 innings, striking out 19 batters and recording three or more strikeouts in three performances. His best outing came against Kennesaw State on April 15, in which the Georgia native struck out five batters across just two innings of work.

As much as Phillips is looking forward to spending a second summer in Vermont, fans have been excited to see him return as well. Phillips said that a couple of kids have reached out to him on social media to ask when he was coming back to the area.

“A lot of the kids, when I would warm up going into the game, … they would all bring their radars and come out and ask how hard you're throwing,” Phillips said. “It was cool because they were right beside us because the bullpens are right beside the fence.”

That setting may have contributed to what Phillips described as one of the rowdiest pitching staffs in the league.

“It was crazy, the atmosphere, especially the bullpen,” Phillips said. “You can ask anybody, any of the returners. It was just insane.”

That kind of environment would seemingly suit Phillips very well, and the 13.2 strikeouts per nine innings he posted last summer with the Nighthawks would back that up. The 21-year-old, who will celebrate his 22nd birthday this summer on July 12, said that he believes that his competitiveness and rowdiness show both on and off the field.

“I just do not like to lose,” Phillips said. “I like to think of myself as probably one of the most competitive people on the field at all times. Like, even like me coming from a smaller school, smaller mid-major, I like to think that I'm one of the best on the field at all times and I like to try to encourage my teammates to think they're the best on the field at all times.”