A former Philadelphia Phillies draft pick is giving the Majors another shot after signing a deal with another NL club on Monday.
Per The Athletic, the Chicago Cubs signed right-handed pitcher Sam McWilliams to a minor-league deal. He may not be a name familiar to Phillies fans.
But, back in 2014 he was the team’s eight-round pick out of Beech High School in Hendersonville, Tenn.
After that, McWilliams played for six different teams, was traded twice, chosen in the Rule 5 Draft, once designated for assignment, and in late 2022 he decided to leave baseball to work as a sales representative for Blast Athletics.
The Cubs will be the team to take a chance on him, according to The Athletic, since it was that work that put him back on Major League teams’ radar.
He was transferred to the Phillies’ rookie squad in the Gulf Coast League almost away after being selected, and in nine games (five starts), he went 2-3 with a 5.40 ERA. He walked six and struck out ten in 25 innings pitched.
He continued to play in the GCL for the Phillies in 2015, starting seven games and finishing 0–2 while bringing his ERA down to 3.27. In 33 innings, he struck out 21 and walked five, indicating some promise.
Maybe it had just enough potential to be exchanged. The Phillies traded him to Arizona that November in order to acquire pitcher Jeremy Hellickson, who ended up starting for them on Opening Day of 2016. That launched McWilliams’ nomadic career as well.
He was traded by Arizona to Tampa Bay in 2018 as a player to be named later. Later that year, in the Rule 5 Draft, the Rays lost him to Kansas City. After a miserable Spring Training, the Royals sent him back to Tampa Bay, but McWilliams got to Triple-A Durham.
However, after failing to make it to the Majors, he entered free agency in 2020 and signed a Major League contract with the New York Mets. However, while he was still at Triple-A Syracuse, the Mets designated him for assignment in June. This caused him to begin the 2022 season with the Cincinnati Reds, where he pitched in Double-A before quitting baseball, and end 2021 with the San Diego Padres’ Triple-A affiliate in El Paso. McWilliams’ minor-league record is 34-45 with a 4.41 ERA.
