Journeyman righty gets designated for assignment again

The Phillies announced this afternoon that they’ve designated right-hander Brett de Geus for assignment. De Geus’s 40-man roster spot will go to the recently acquired Harrison Bader.

The 27-year-old de Geus is no stranger to the DFA. The Phillies are the fourth team to designate him for assignment in 2025 alone. Since he was selected 1,000th overall in the 2017 draft, he has played in the Dodgers, Rangers, Diamondbacks, Royals, Mariners, Marlins, Blue Jays and Phillies organizations. A Rule 5 draft pick, he made his big league debut in 2021, pitching 50 innings of relief for Texas and Arizona with a 7.56 ERA and 4.60 SIERA. The D-backs released him in 2022, and after brief stints with a couple of teams in the Atlantic League, he returned to affiliated ball in 2023, signing a minor league pact with Kansas City. The following year, he finally made his way back to the majors, pitching to a 7.15 ERA and 4.19 SIERA in 11 1/3 innings for the Mariners, Marlins, and Blue Jays.

Toronto was the first team to DFA de Geus in 2025, later trading him to Pittsburgh for cash considerations in January. Little over a month later, the Pirates DFA’d him as well, and the Marlins scooped him up off waivers for his second stint with the club. He opened the season with their Triple-A affiliate in Jacksonville, but after just one appearance for the Jumbo Shrimp, he was DFA’d once again and claimed by the Phillies. They, too, sent de Geus to Triple-A but eventually recalled the righty for his 2025 debut in late May. He gave up one run in two innings of work before he was optioned back to Lehigh Valley the following day.

Over parts of three MLB seasons, de Geus has a career 7.39 ERA and 4.67 SIERA in 63 1/3 innings of low-leverage relief work. On the bright side, his 4.11 ERA and 4.45 FIP at Triple-A this year are both his best numbers in any minor league season since his 2019 campaign at the low levels with the Dodgers. While he has had trouble holding on to a big league job throughout his career, there is clearly a reason so many teams have been interested in giving him a shot over the past few years. With his four-pitch arsenal (including a fastball that tops out at 98 mph), consistently high groundball rates, and two option years remaining, a new team could certainly be willing to give de Geus a shot in 2025.