Major league call with Phillies comes for a grateful Weston Wilson after seven seasons in the minors

Weston Wilson hit traffic on Sunday afternoon. He was glad he did. The utility man sat in his pickup truck and thought about the last seven years, all of the ups and the downs and the lessons that came from his hardships. It was not what he had originally envisioned. When Wilson makes his major league debut with the Phillies, he will do so as a 28-year-old rookie. But he is grateful.

In Wilson’s mind, those parts of seven seasons spent in the minor leagues shaped him. When he was selected by the Brewers in the 17th round of the MLB draft in 2016, he was coming off three seasons at Clemson. Wilson thought he’d be in the minor leagues for three years, maybe four.

“I was in double A after three or four years,” he said with a laugh.

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There were more setbacks. Minor leaguers lost the 2020 season due to the pandemic. In 2021, when he was at triple-A Nashville in the Brewers system and playing the best baseball of his life, he felt his arm swelling during batting practice. A venogram revealed that he had a five-inch blood clot in his right shoulder. It could have been fatal.

Wilson worked his way back on to the field but struggled to play the way he had in 2021. He found himself over-tinkering. But he felt like he had a fresh start when the Phillies signed him to a minor league contract in January. He took advantage of it. At the time of his call-up on Sunday, Wilson was hitting .260/.361/.524 with 25 home runs for triple-A Lehigh Valley. He has played first and third base, left field, right field, shortstop, and designated hitter this season.

The drive from Lehigh Valley to South Philadelphia on Sunday morning provided some time to think about all that.

“Things happened when they were supposed to,” Wilson said. “I think in our head we have this timeline of stuff. But I’m at peace with it.

“A couple of years ago, I wanted to be in the big leagues, but maybe there were some more lessons I needed to learn. I’m looking at it from that perspective of appreciation, versus it’s owed to me.”

When he arrived at the ballpark on Sunday, the game had already started. He walked into the clubhouse and saw Brandon Marsh, whose recent knee injury is the reason Wilson is here to begin with. Marsh gave him a big hug. A few minutes later, Wilson walked into the training room and saw injured first baseman Rhys Hoskins.

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They’d never met, but Hoskins had a message for him.

“You got here by being yourself and you need to continue being yourself,” he told Wilson. “They saw something in you that got you here, and they called you up because of who you are. So don’t change that just because you’re here. Continue doing what you’re doing. I know it feels different, but it’s the same game.”

It does feel different. But Wilson has decided that no matter what happens, he will give himself grace.

“Last year was a really tough year for me,” he said. “I dealt with a lot of failure. I put too much pressure on myself to repeat what I did the year before. And it kind of — I guess I backed off and was like, I need to give myself grace. That was something I needed to learn, because this game is very hard.

“We have high expectations for ourselves. And when that doesn’t happen, it can be frustrating. But I think going through all that, I’ve learned to trust that things are going to get better if I stay with what I know.”

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Cristian Pache (right elbow irritation) will start a rehab assignment with single-A Clearwater on Tuesday night. He’ll play seven innings in center field. Manager Rob Thomson said Pache is expected to be a week away from returning. … Reliever José Alvarado (left elbow inflammation) was due to go on a rehab assignment on Thursday but will throw batting practice at Citizens Bank Park instead. Thomson said Alvarado was feeling cramping in his hands. The Phillies want to make sure he is OK. Thomson said the issue has nothing to do with Alvarado’s elbow and added that they are “not too concerned.”