PHILADELPHIA — Weston Wilson started his 25th big-league game Friday night against the Washington Nationals. Had he been forced to call it a career after 24, he could’ve done so with accolades few players could dream of.
He hit for the cycle Thursday night, just the 10th time in club history.
He homered in his first big-league at-bat one year and six days ago, also against Washington, starting in Michael Lorenzen’s no-hitter, the 14th for the Phillies all-time.
Just for good measure, he’s batted .333 in the bigs and gotten to play a game in London.
It’s not bad for any player. For a 17th round draft pick who had 2,386 minor league at-bats before his first in the majors and has played 384 games in Triple-A, it’s the stuff dreams are made of.
“I think it’s a testament to perseverance, staying with everything,” Wilson said Thursday. “It hasn’t been easy. But last year — against them, actually — was my first game. So to have that moment last year, and then this one, has been really cool.”
“Really cool” might somehow sell it short.
Wilson has played 802 games in the minors.
Four of his teammates — Alec Bohm, Bryson Stott, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper — played 648 combined, less when you exclude rehab assignments.
Two of the guys he shares a dugout with at Citizens Bank Park, Bohm and Johan Rojas, skipped Triple-A altogether on their initial ascent. Wilson spent almost three full seasons at that level before his first call to the bigs.
He’s hit 121 home runs, driven in 444 runs, stolen 100 bases and collected 730 hits in the minors. Just four weeks shy of his 30th birthday, Wilson is trying to make the case to stick in the bigs for good.
Thursday reiterated a fact that Wilson has known for a long time, one he’s been waiting for a chance to prove to a major league team: The kid can hit.
He’s done it at just about every level, in college at Clemson and throughout his minor league trajectory.
After losing the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he hit .276 with 16 homers in 2021 for Milwaukee’s Triple-A affiliate in Nashville. That led to free agency, which brought him to Lehigh Valley, where he mashed relentlessly for the Phillies: 31 homers, 19 doubles, 86 RBIs and an OPS of .878 with a willingness to play all over the diamond.
For it to result in a major league chance, he knew, would require external help. Instead of focusing on what was out of his control, he lowered his head and grinded.
“I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, and I couldn’t have done it at a better place with better fans,” Wilson said last August, tears in his eyes after the storybook debut. “They’ve been unbelievable since I first got announced on Sunday, just welcomed me with open arms in the outfield, and I’m speechless right now.”
The same resilience showed this year when he struggled to start the season.
Wilson was hitting .154 with one homer at the end of April and was stuck at .169 in mid-May. But he turned it on that month, earned a spot on the taxi squad to London for two games against the Mets in early June when his average had risen to .211 and kept pumping it to .240 by the time the Phillies called again on July 11.
The express purpose was to see if he could punish big-league lefties like he did those in the minors. The answer so far has been a resounding yes, if in a limited sample, with Wilson hitting .429 in 21 career at-bats against southpaws with three homers and a 1.536 OPS.
Thursday, Wilson tripled off Nats lefty starter Mitchell Parker to begin his cycle. He was back in the lineup against Patrick Corbin on Friday and could get a look at McKenzie Gore on Saturday as the Phillies remain second in baseball in plate appearances against left-handers this season.
The Phillies acquired Austin Hays at the deadline specifically for power from the right side of the plate, with their left/center-field rotation occupied by Rojas (who provides no pop) and Brandon Marsh (who provides little against lefties).
Wilson offers a remedy for that, and while the Phillies haven’t discovered how to pinch hit all season, he could be a postseason counterpunch for teams trying to neutralize the Phillies’ left-handed power.
Those kinds of things aren’t up to Wilson, who could just as easily celebrate his 30th birthday back in Allentown. He’s been around long enough to know what he can and can’t control.
“I’m kind of leaving that up to them to decide,” Wilson said. “I’m just trying to put good at-bats together every time I get a chance. Whether it’s against lefties or pinch hitting, whatever it is, I’m going to do my best to be ready.”
But nights like Thursday make a season special. Only so many games in the slog of 162 stand out in the memory. Wilson, in his short time as a Phillies, seems to be part of an inordinate number of those.
He’s the kind of guy to keep around just in case he helps create a few more.
Contact Matthew De George at mdegeorge@delcotimes.com.
Source: Berkshire mont
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