Tyler Cade Ivey (born May 12, 1996) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

in the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

organization. He made his

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) debut in 2021. He played college baseball for

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

, and was drafted out of

Grayson College Grayson College is a Public college, public community college in Grayson County, Texas. The main campus is in Denison, Texas, Denison and it has branch campuses in Denison (west extension, at the site of the old Perrin Air Force Base) and Van A ...

Amateur career

Ivey attended

Rockwall-Heath High School Rockwall-Heath High School is a public high school located in Heath, Texas, and is one of two high schools that serve the Rockwall Independent School District, the other being Rockwall High School. The school enrolls students from 9th to 12th g ...

Heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. As a freshman, he was on the 2012 4-A State Champion Rockwall-Heath baseball team that also included future major league pitcher

Jake Thompson Jacob Keith Thompson (born January 31, 1994) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Caliente de Durango of the Mexican League. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, and in the KBO L ...

. Ivey was undrafted out of high school in 2015 and enrolled at

to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the Aggies. He posted a 2–3 record with a 3.56 ERA in 43 innings over 11 games during the 2016 season. During that season, he was involved in an incident that almost caused a post-game brawl vs. the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

, when he taunted the UT dugout with a ''horns down'' gesture. Ivey transferred to

Denison, Texas Denison is a city in Grayson County, Texas, United States, south of the Texas–Oklahoma border. Its population was 24,479 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 22,682 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Denison is pa ...

for his sophomore season of 2017. With Grayson, Ivey posted a 9–0 record with a 2.08 ERA in 78 innings over 12 games. Ivey was drafted by the

in the 3rd round, with the 91st overall selection, of the

2017 MLB draft The 2017 Major League Baseball draft began on June 12, 2017. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The first 36 picks, including the first round and compensatory picks, were broadcast on MLB Network on June 12, while the remai ...

and signed with them for a $450,000

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

Professional career

Ivey split the 2017 season between the rookie-level

Gulf Coast League Astros The Florida Complex League Astros are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Houston Astros, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to the 2021 season, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Astros. The team plays it ...

and the

Tri City ValleyCats The Tri-City ValleyCats are a professional baseball team based in Albany, New York. The ValleyCats compete in the Frontier League (FL) as a member of the North Division in the Atlantic Conference. The team was established in 2002, along with the Ab ...

of the

Low-A Single-A, formerly known as Class A and sometimes as Low-A, is the fourth-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States, below Triple-A, Double-A, and High-A. There are 30 teams classified at the Single-A level, one for ...

New York–Penn League The New York–Penn League (NYPL) was a Minor League Baseball league that operated in the northeastern United States from 1939 to 2020. Classified as a Class A Short Season league, its season started in June, after major-league teams signed th ...

, posting a combined 0–3 record with a 5.63 ERA in 38 innings. He split the 2018 season between the

Quad Cities River Bandits The Quad Cities River Bandits are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. Their home games are played at Modern Woodmen Park (formerly John O'Donnell Stadium) in Davenport, Iowa, on ...

of the

Single-A Single-A, formerly known as Class A and sometimes as Low-A, is the fourth-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A, Double-A (baseball), Double-A, and High-A. There are 30 teams cl ...

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

and the

Buies Creek Astros The Fayetteville Woodpeckers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. They are located in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and play their home games at Segra Stadium. From 2017 to 201 ...

of the

High-A High-A, officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing, is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A and D ...

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...

, posting a combined 4–6 record with a 2.97 ERA and 135 strikeouts over 112 innings. Ivey split the 2019 season between the GCL Astros,

Fayetteville Woodpeckers The Fayetteville Woodpeckers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. They are located in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and play their home games at Segra Stadium. From 2017 to 201 ...

, and

Corpus Christi Hooks The Corpus Christi Hooks are a Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League and the Double-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. They are located in Corpus Christi, Texas, and are named for the city's association with fishing. The team is owned b ...

of the Double-A

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

, going a combined 4–0 with a 1.38 ERA and 68 strikeouts over 52 innings. Ivey did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On November 20, 2020, the Astros added Ivey to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

to protect him from the

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

. On May 21, 2021, Ivey was promoted to the major leagues for the first time. He made his debut that day as the starting pitcher against the Texas Rangers, drawing a no-decision while allowing 4 runs in innings of work. On June 12, Ivey revealed that he had been pitching through elbow pain since suffering a grade one UCL strain in 2019 and that he would not pitch again in 2021. He stated “apparently I have the nerve endings of a 75-year old man in my elbow. That probably explains a lot”. Ivey was

designated for assignment Designated for assignment (DFA) is a contractual term used in Major League Baseball (MLB). A player who is designated for assignment is immediately removed from the team's 40-man roster, after which the team must, within seven days, return the pla ...

on April 7, 2022. On April 11, he cleared waivers and was sent outright to the Triple-A

Sugar Land Space Cowboys The Sugar Land Space Cowboys are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros Major League Baseball club. They are located in Sugar Land, Texas, part of the Greater Houston metro ...

. Ivey retired from professional baseball in May 2022, citing "burnout" as a reason behind the decision. He briefly became a salesman before deciding to return to the Astros organization for spring training in 2025. Ivey was assigned to Triple-A Sugar Land to begin the season.

References

External links

Texas A&M Aggies bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivey, Tyler 1996 births Living people People from Rowlett, Texas Baseball players from Rockwall County, Texas Major League Baseball pitchers Houston Astros players Texas A&M Aggies baseball players Grayson Vikings baseball players Gulf Coast Astros players Tri-City ValleyCats players Quad Cities River Bandits players Buies Creek Astros players Fayetteville Woodpeckers players Corpus Christi Hooks players Sugar Land Skeeters players Sugar Land Space Cowboys players Florida Complex League Astros players