After spending the first few months of the season with the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate in Iowa, right-hander Tyler Beede has elected free agency, per his transaction log at MLB.com. It is unclear if Beede exercised an opt-out in his contract.
Now 33 years old, Beede was a prospect of note in his younger days. The Blue Jays took Beede 21st overall in the 2011 draft, but he elected to attend Vanderbilt instead. Three years later, the Giants chose Beede 14th overall in the 2014 draft. He debuted in 2018 with San Francisco in 2018, though he has since struggled to a 5.55 ERA with a 19.6 percent strikeout rate, a 10 percent walk rate and a 45.3 percent ground-ball mark in a combined 201 innings with the Giants, Pirates and Guardians. Beede had more success keeping runs off the board in 2023 in Japan, where a stellar 57.4 percent grounder rate helped him to a 3.99 ERA in 49 2/3 frames with the Yomiuri Giants.
While Beede returned to the majors in 2024, he recorded a bloated 8.36 ERA in 14 innings with the Guardians. He has not appeared in the bigs since then. Beede opened last season with the Twins’ Triple-A team in St. Paul, but they released him after he gave up eight earned runs in nine innings of work. The journeyman went on to short 2025 stints with the the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League and the Diablos Rojos of the Mexican League, but his woes continued in both places. Beede registered a 5.48 ERA in 21 2/3 innings with the Ducks and a 7.43 mark in 13 1/3 frames in Mexico.
This year has been a similar story for Beede, who was tagged for six earned runs on five hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning against Buffalo on Thursday. Unless Iowa re-signs him, that will go down as his last outing with the team. Over 13 appearances and 22 2/3 innings with club, Beede pitched to an unsightly 12.71 ERA while allowing 33 hits and posting 22 strikeouts against 18 walks. The Cubs’ pitching staff has dealt with a rash of injuries at the MLB level this year, but Beede clearly did not perform well enough to merit another big league look. He is now back on the market.
