He has previously played in MLB for the Philadelphia Phillies, Kansas City Royals, and Cincinnati Reds and in the KBO League for the Samsung Lions.

[2] The Cleveland Indians selected Lively in the 26th round of the 2010 Major League Baseball Draft out of high school.

[3] In his three years pitching for the UCF Knights baseball team, he went 21–8 with a 3.06 earned run average (ERA) and 226 strikeouts over 244 innings.

[4] The Cincinnati Reds selected Lively in the fourth round of the 2013 Major League Baseball Draft.

[8] He was named as the top player in the Reds' farm system in 2014 after posting a 13–7 record and 3.04 ERA with Bakersfield and the Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos.

On June 3, 2017, Lively made his major league debut with the Philadelphia Phillies against the San Francisco Giants.

[19] He spent the entire year with the Triple-A Louisville Bats, making 18 starts and registering a 2–5 record and 4.09 ERA with 79 strikeouts in 77.0 innings pitched.

He was assigned to Triple-A Louisville to begin the 2023 season, where he posted a 4–0 record and 2.33 ERA with 16 strikeouts across 5 games (4 starts).

[21] He made his first start on May 20 against the New York Yankees, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits and one walk with a career-high 8 strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched.

[22] In an August 1 start against the Chicago Cubs, Lively allowed 13 runs on 13 hits and 2 walks in 4.0 innings of work.