Tyler Phillips finds success in Marlins bullpen after learning from hometown experience with Phillies
MIAMI — Back at Phillies camp during spring training, Tyler Phillips wasn’t sure about his new role. A starter since he was drafted in 2015, the organization wanted him to transition into a reliever. He told then-teammate Michael Mercado about his hesitance.
Mercado couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He thought Phillips had the perfect attitude for the bullpen.
“Mike knows probably the best side of me: the crazy side,” Phillips said.
The Phillies decided they didn’t have a spot in their rotation for the right-hander, then decided they didn’t have a spot on the roster at all. The club designated Phillips for assignment on March 23 and traded him to the Marlins for cash three days later. He’s spent this entire season as a reliever in Miami. It’s panned out successfully in South Beach for the South Jersey native.
“I was reluctant at first, because I like to have more extended outings,” Phillips said Saturday at loanDepot park. “But now that I’m here doing it, I’m enjoying it. I get angry when I cross that line, and that’s something you have to have. There can’t be any hesitation of, ‘Oh, am I going to be able to do well or not?’ I talk about it a lot; it’s fight or flight, man, and I want to get out there and fight.”
A bit of an odd-ball on the field with an eccentric personality, Phillips has leaned into it all the way as a reliever. He’ll slap himself in the face to get pumped up before an outing. He’ll snarl and mutter to himself. Maybe it’s not all totally necessary, but Phillips thinks it has an effect. It would be hard to argue with the results.
Phillips has a 3.15 ERA in 46 appearances this season, despite only striking out 43 batters in 65 2/3 innings. He’s become a go-to option in late-game situations for the Marlins, executing without the traditional swing-and-miss stuff.
“He’s been throwing the ball well,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “I’m happy for him. He’s throwing strikes and getting people out. He’s kind of their setup guy right now.”
Funny enough, Phillips will actually make his first start of 2025 against his former club on Sunday afternoon in the finale of a three-game series. The Marlins will presumably use the 27-year-old as the opener of a bullpen game as they try to avoid a sweep.
The last time Phillips started a game was with the Phillies last September. He rejoined Philadelphia’s rotation and got lit up for six runs in two-thirds of an inning in Toronto. It was his last big-league outing of the year.
Phillips admitted that his cameo in Philadelphia last season was overwhelming at times. He was the hometown kid who ripped off a tremendous three-start stretch as a rookie, culminating in a complete-game shutout at Citizens Bank Park on July 27. It was what kids who root for Philly sports teams grow up dreaming about. But the magic wore off, and Phillips could feel the pressure as he posted a 17.74 ERA in his next four starts.
“I see a lot of people say, ‘Oh, this guy couldn’t handle pitching in Philly,'” Phillips said. “That’s not the case at all. It makes me grind my teeth when I think about that. It’s the case that I wanted to do so good for the fans that I let that dictate who I was. I was trying to pitch for the fans, trying to pitch for my teammates, trying to pitch for my family. I was trying to pitch for all these outside things that aren’t me, when at the end of the day you get on that mound and it’s you up there. You gotta be selfish.”
He felt like he wasn’t selfish enough. Phillips — a self-admitted “loud mouth” who likes to get “active” and “energetic” — was toning down his persona. Nobody with the Phillies told him he needed to do that, but he changed how he acted. He was attempting to just fit in.
“I was trying to be quiet,” Phillips said. “I kept my mouth shut. I spoke when spoken to, because I didn’t want to do the wrong thing. I didn’t want to piss the wrong people off. I hadn’t paid my dues yet.”
The fire he pitched with when he debuted vanished.
“I had a little edge last year. I had some early on,” Phillips said. “And then when you feel like you’re on borrowed time because you’re coming up and you’re filling in a spot for an injury and you’re in a veteran clubhouse, you want to be a good rookie. You don’t want to step on toes, so you reserve yourself a little bit. That’s something that I had an issue with.”
Phillips has abandoned that timidness in a new role on a new team in a new city. The 65-77 Marlins have plenty of other players who were claimed off waivers, acquired for little or looking to establish themselves in the big leagues. In this situation, Phillips is comfortable in his own shoes. It might seem quirky or confusing, but he’s making it work.
“I think that coming out of the bullpen has helped me, just in that sense it’s like: just go and do what you got to do,” Phillips said. “And last year, I had the edge for a little bit. Now, I get to have it every time, because if I come out of that bullpen and I don’t have it, I’m giving up runs.”