Bryse Wilson Discusses Highs and Lows As He Looks To Fill Role for Phillies

With April appearing more and more realistic for Zack Wheeler's return — barring setbacks, of course — the Phillies may be able to avoid the early starting pitching depth issues that looked more apparent three weeks ago.

The Phils will open the season with Cristopher Sanchez, Jesus Luzardo, Aaron Nola, Andrew Painter and Taijuan Walker, though not necessarily in that order. If Wheeler is ready by mid-to-late April and returns to a healthy staff, the Phillies would quickly face a decision whether to temporarily use a six-man rotation, shift Walker to the bullpen or option Painter to Triple A for two weeks to preserve his innings for later in the year.

As managers always say, these problems have a way of working themselves out.

Need more than five or six

The Phillies have six real starters, or at least will have six when Wheeler comes back. Teams typically need more than that over the course of a 162-game season. The 2025 Phillies used eight traditional starters and two openers. The 2024 Phillies used 10 starters and two openers. The 2023 Phillies used nine starters and two openers.

The seventh, eighth and ninth starting pitchers on this year's depth chart are right-handers Jean Cabrera (24), Bryse Wilson (28) and Alan Rangel (28).

Cabrera was optioned to minor-league camp on Friday and will open the season at Triple A. So will Rangel, who started Sunday in Fort Myers against the Twins and has been hit hard in four Grapefruit League appearances (9.39 ERA, .371 opponents' batting average).

The Phillies stayed in Fort Myers overnight to face the Red Sox on Monday afternoon, which will be Wilson's third appearance and second start of the spring.

Veteran of the bunch

Wilson is the only one of the trio not on the Phillies' 40-man roster. He's in camp on a minor-league deal. He has by far the most big-league experience of the three with 57 career starts and 106 relief appearances, many as the long man.

Wilson has pitched two Grapefruit League games so far, a two-inning start in the Phillies' spring opener on Feb. 21, then two innings of relief after Aaron Nola's first start on Feb. 27. With Cabrera no longer in big-league camp and Sanchez (Dominican Republic), Nola (Italy) and Walker (Mexico) pitching in the World Baseball Classic, Wilson will likely start for the Phils at least once more after Monday.

"Throw the best that I can to give myself a good chance to make a team or be somebody that can be called up when there's a hole to fill," Wilson said last week in the Phillies' Clearwater clubhouse.

"I think it's just a good opportunity to come in and get better, see how I can improve and what ways they think I can be better, and just embrace that opportunity."

Wilson expects to be built up more throughout camp as he prepares to start at Triple A Lehigh Valley. The Phillies don't have a true need for a long man in their bullpen, especially early with five days off in April.

"Whether I build up to five or six innings is up to them but at least get up to three or four innings just so I can cover the long role if need be," he said.

Highs and lows

Wilson has experienced the back-and-forth between majors and minors, starting and relieving. That's important to the Phillies, who right now prefer optionable starters over those seeking guarantees.

He had two solid seasons with the Brewers in 2023 (2.58 ERA overall) and 2024 (3.57 ERA as the long man), with 78 of 87 appearances over those two seasons coming from the bullpen.

"In 2023, I was the long guy all year, so I threw 75 or 80 innings that season in a middle-relief role, anywhere from one to four innings," he said. "I think in 2023 and 2024, the hybrid thing, it was a little bit more consistent. Last year was a lot of bouncing back and forth,"

The 2025 season was a struggle with the White Sox for Wilson, who split time between Triple A and the majors. He allowed just two runs in his first 10 innings with Chicago, then was hit hard in 10 straight outings, allowing eight home runs and a .364 batting average over 32⅓ innings.

"I don't think I adjusted as well as I should have to it," he said. "But I see myself as a guy who can throw a lot of pitches and cover a lot of innings and do it in a quality way. But just embracing the role, do whatever the team wants me to do."

Command and sequencing

Through two spring outings, Wilson has put six men on base over four innings but hasn't allowed a run. His sinker and four-seam fastball have sat 91-92 mph. He's thrown cutters, curveballs and changeups as well. The sinker is his primary pitch and he had success with it in 2024, holding opponents to a .238 batting average with it, .228 to righties.

"Probably the sinker, it's the pitch I throw the most, and I feel comfortable throwing it to righties and lefties," he said. "I think kinda just the consistency and the mechanics (are the focus). The stuff's there, it's just about being consistent and able to execute whenever I want to, figuring out the best way to use the pitches that I have."