Every year at the conclusion of the Minor League Baseball season, countless amounts of players become minor league free agents for the very first time in their respective careers.
For the 2022 Milwaukee Brewers and their Triple-A affiliate Nashville Sounds, this list included infielder Weston Wilson, who had been in the organization since he was selected in the 17th round of the 2016 MLB Draft.
During his tenure with the team, Wilson essentially did nothing but mash. He hit 11 or more home runs in each season from 2018-2022 (of course the COVID-cancelled 2020 season is not included here) and had only just begun to establish himself as a near-big-league-ready player when his first professional contract expired and he was not brought back.
But the game of baseball is a business, and ultimately the decision from above was that his contract was not to be renewed by the Brewers. At 28-years-old, he was on the older side of a minor league player without his first big league promotion and there wasn’t an immediate spot to slot him in at the big league level.
This certainly does not mean that there was not interest in his services. As a matter of fact, a whole slew of teams were in on him from the get go. Per a source familiar with the situation, Wilson was “pursued early and pursued often” right from the onset of free agency, and he was contacted by the Cardinals, Astros, Royals, Rockies and Reds. But in the end, he wound up latching on with the Philadelphia Phillies, who gave him the best sales pitch out of all of the interested clubs.
From the start, Wilson has felt right at home with the Phillies. Him and I recently caught up and he gave a glowing review for his new club. “I have loved my time here”, he says. “It has been a blessing to get a fresh start here. They truly made me feel welcomed and supported from the second I walked into the complex in spring.”
Former Brewers prospect Weston Wilson right at home in the Phillies’ organization.
Wilson’s contract was of the minor league variety, but for the very first time in his career, he was invited to big league Spring Training; an opportunity he says he felt went really well. In 20 spring games, he hit two home runs with nine RBI and had a .289 average with a .926 OPS.
Unfortunately, the Phillies have a fairly deep position player group on their 26-man active roster, and since Wilson wasn’t already a member of the 40-man roster, he was amongst one of the later rounds of roster cuts. While it’s never fun to receive this news, he says that “the communication was great from top to bottom”, finishing with his admiration for the Phillies’ front office and how they truly view their players as people, too, not just part of the business that keeps the team running.
Prior to the 2023 season, the 28-year-old had a few adjustments he needed to make in order to build off of a decent-but-not-great showing last year. “I messed around with quite a few things this offseason”, he says. “I think the biggest thing came from some video from 2021 when I had a more relaxed, upright position at the plate. That, along with where I’m making my first move has allowed me to feel back to normal. I’m trusting my eyes more and knowing the [strike] zone better has allowed me to walk more this year as well.”
And walk more he has. Trusting his eye at the plate has worked wonders, as Wilson already has 36 walks after he drew just 39 of them all last year. He’s being much more selective at the plate and is primarily swinging at hittable pitches, which has helped his average climb nearly 30 points and his OPS is up from .655 to a whopping .873.
In fact, he’s doing pretty much everything at a higher rate than he had at any point in the past, especially last season. In just 57 games, he already has more home runs (14) than he did last year (11) in over twice as many games. After driving in 54 and stealing 17 bases last year, he’s already up to 42 RBI and 13 stolen bases this year. In every facet of his game, things are trending in the right direction.
During his tenure on the Sounds in 2022, Wilson provided the club with above-average defense all over the diamond. He made at least one appearance at all four infield positions and spent plenty of time in the outfield corners as well. For the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in the Phillies organization, he has still bounced around a bit, but is focusing primarily on shortstop for the first time in his professional career. So far, the results have been encouraging, as he has just four errors and a .970 fielding percentage in over 324 innings at the position.
Ok @Weston_Wilson8, we see you with the Sports Center Top 10 appearance 👀 pic.twitter.com/diX1Cd1Jsu
— Lehigh Valley IronPigs (@IronPigs) May 29, 2023
While Wilson’s resurgence with the Phillies is nice to see out of an old friend, one can only assume that his presence is missed a bit in the Brewers organization. With the slew of injuries to players like Willy Adames and Luis Urías mixed with the underperformance from Brice Turang, it’s worth wondering how Wilson would’ve looked out there instead of players like Andruw Monasterio or Abraham Toro. For now, we can just be happy to see a former Brewer tearing it up in his new gig.
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