The 2024 Philadelphia Phillies were full of feel-good stories on the way to winning their first NL East division title since 2011. There was the team's red-hot first half, led by breakouts from Alec Bohm and Ranger Suárez, that saw them hold the league's best record for the majority of the season.
They had an MLB-leading eight players selected to the All-Star Game, with five first-timers in Bohm, Suárez, Cristopher Sánchez, Matt Strahm and Jeff Hoffman. There were memorable individual performances, such as utility man Weston Wilson hitting for the cycle and the starting rotation delivering four complete-game shutouts.
The most unlikely of those complete games came on July 27, when rookie right-hander Tyler Phillips shutout the eventual AL Central champion Cleveland Guardians.
For a short period of time, Phillips was the best individual feel-good story of the 2024 Phillies. Phillips was called up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley on July 5 and immediately set a Phillies record in his debut out of the bullpen. He eventually found his way into the starting rotation and had a run of a few consecutive solid starts before struggling mightily and being demoted back to Lehigh Valley. What made Phillips' success so fun for Phillies fans is he grew up a fan of the team himself, in Lumberton, New Jersey.
Now, after failing to secure a roster spot in spring training, the 27-year-old is having early success for another team in the Phillies' division.
After leaving the Phillies, Tyler Phillips is experiencing early success with the Miami Marlins
After the Phillies designated Phillips for assignment on March 23, he was traded to the Miami Marlins for cash considerations, as he is out of minor league options.
Through April 9, Phillips has impressed in the three Marlins games he has pitched in, all as a reliever. In a long relief role for the club, he has yet to allow an earned run over 6 1/3 innings, recording two strikeouts while allowing two walks and five hits.
Despite not giving up a single earned run, Phillips' lack of strikeouts could end up hurting him. This means that he's pitching to contact, which he also did with the Phillies. Most effective major league pitchers need a few put away pitches to get batters to consistently whiff in today's game.
Is Phillips' impressive start sustainable? Probably not, but a team as bad as the Marlins can use all the pitching help they can get, and Phillips provides them with needed depth.
Phillips has had a whirlwind of a professional baseball career so far. Drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 16th round in 2015, he spent the first five seasons of his career in Texas' system before being claimed off waivers by the Phillies in July 2021.
After missing all of 2022, he appeared in 46 games across Double-A Reading and Lehigh Valley from 2023-24, never recording an ERA under 4.00. But the Phillies needed pitching depth last summer, and he provided it until he fizzled out with a 6.87 ERA across 36 2/3 innings and seven starts.
Depth appears to be a concerning problem with the Phillies' bullpen early this season, so perhaps they could have kept Phillips over somebody like Carlos Hernández, who has barely seen the field so far.