HOUSTON — Tyler Ivey’s comeback has cleared another hurdle.
The Houston Astros are inviting Ivey to minor-league spring training in February, two league sources told The Athletic on Tuesday, inching the righty closer toward the baseball career he once left behind.
Ivey, 28, will report to West Palm Beach, Fla., on Feb. 10 as part of a minor-league minicamp that runs simultaneously with major-league spring training. Doing so will allow Ivey extra time to build up, be seen by the major-league coaching staff and, possibly, throw innings in Grapefruit League games. Ivey will not be part of major-league spring training.
Earlier this month, Ivey threw a bullpen session in front of Astros special adviser Chuck Caufield, who gave his findings — and Ivey’s TrackMan data — to Houston’s baseball operations group.
The Astros have retained Ivey’s contractual rights since he retired from baseball in May 2022 due to burnout. He has appeared in one major-league game — a start against his hometown Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field on May 21, 2021.
A third-round pick in the 2017 draft, Ivey routinely appeared within lists of the Astros’ top-10 prospects during his playing career. Before the 2022 season, The Athletic’s Keith Law wrote that Ivey “misses bats despite just fringy velocity thanks to huge deception from his high slot, which makes it very hard for hitters to distinguish his fastball from his downer curveball.”
Earlier this month, Ivey told The Athletic he is throwing pain-free and with velocity that he couldn’t generate during his first stint in Houston’s organization.
“If I come back and my stuff is better and I’m the same pitcher — which I do believe I can still pitch — and now stuff is better and I’m healthy, who knows what could happen,” Ivey said.
(Photo of Ivey pitching: Ron Jenkins / Getty Images)
