The Phillies announced that right-hander Ryan Cusick was claimed off waivers from the White Sox and optioned to the Florida Complex League. In the corresponding roster move, Philadelphia designated right-hander Kyle Tyler for assignment.
In less than two weeks’ time, Cusick is now joining his fourth different team after a whirlwind series of waiver claims. The odyssey started when he was designated for assignment by the Athletics on May 27, and he has since gone from the A’s to the Tigers to the White Sox and now to the Phils. Cusick will now head not to Philadelphia’s Triple-A affiliate but to the FCL for what might be a mechanical tune-up in the wake of a difficult minor league season.
The 25-year-old Cusick was the 24th overall pick of the 2021 draft, selected by the Braves but then quickly flipped to the Athletics that offseason as part of the trade package that brought Matt Olson to Atlanta. Cusick has struggled to live up to that first-round potential, as his career 5.20 ERA over 238 2/3 minor league innings hasn’t resulted in any Major League playing time.
A starter for most of his career, Cusick appears to have moved into the bullpen on a full-time basis this season, but the results haven’t been there, as he has more walks (14) than strikeouts (11) while posting a 6.32 ERA over 15 2/3 combined innings with the Athletics’ and Tigers’ Triple-A affiliates in 2025. The Phillies will become the latest team to see if they can solve Cusick’s control problems and turn him into a playable big league reliever.
Tyler can relate to Cusick’s waiver wire travels, as Tyler also changed teams four times on waiver claims within a month’s span in March-April 2022. His MLB resume consists of a 4.31 ERA over 48 innings with the Angels, Padres, and Marlins, with the bulk (31 2/3 IP) of that work coming with Miami last year.
Tyler started seven of his eight games with the Marlins, and has mostly worked as a starter over the last three seasons in the minors after working in more of a swingman capacity earlier in his career. All 12 of Tyler’s outings with Triple-A Lehigh Valley came as a starter, though he had only a 4.31 ERA, 15.6% strikeout rate, and 7.6% walk rate. The Phillies are deeper than most teams when it comes to starting pitching, while Tyler’s numbers don’t jump off the page, another club in need of rotation depth could be motivated to put in a claim.