2023 Phillies in review: Weston Wilson

Baseball is the greatest game ever conceived. It makes one emotional for all the right reasons as well as for the wrong reasons. As one put it long ago, “How can you not be romantic about baseball?”

Weston Wilson provided one of those moments this year that was chock full of emotion. Maybe not on the level of what happened when Orion Kerkering did to his father upon his promotion, but before Kerkering’s dad, there was Wilson’s dad.

Oh, and Wilson is a pretty good baseball player.

2023 stats: 22 PA, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 3 SB, 27.3 BB%, 22.7 K%, .313/.500/.500, 0.2 fWAR

The good

Making to the major leagues in the culmination of years and years of hard work. The blisters that were created from taking thousands of swings, the raw skin from sliding over and over and over on infield dirt, the aches and pains that are associated with traveling by bus in the minor leagues and irregular sleeping patterns and dietary habits. All of it suddenly becomes worth it when the player gets to finally get his name etched into Baseball Reference for all eternity.

When a player approaches the threshold of 30 years of age, the thoughts have to start creeping in about whether time is running out, the chances to make that major league roster dwindling rapidly as the game continues to skew younger and younger. When you have a player like Wilson, when those chances come, there is limited ability to take advantage of them. What Wilson did was not only take advantage, but create a memory that will last forever.

It’s one of the highlights of the season for a team that had quite a few of them.

What’s so cool is not the home run. It’s not his father falling to piece as any father would. It’s the absolute joy the dugout had for him. There was no silent treatment, the customary way teammates will greet a player who hits his first major league home run. There is Bryce Harper on the top step ready to greet him. There is Bryson Stott over-the-tip excited for him. It’s just tremendous to watch. It’s a good thing nothing else that night happened that overshadowed such a moment.

The bad

For a part time player, someone called up simply to fill in a few games, I’m not sure what Wilson could have done that would be considered “bad.” A home run in his first plate appearance, solid peripherals, even chipping in with a few steals? What is wrong with all that?

The future

For now, Wilson has a 40-man roster spot. That’s a good thing. He provides solid depth at the corners of the infield and outfield. He’s a righthanded bat with power, something they don’t have a lot of in the upper levels. He’ll likely stay with the team through the offseason, but there is also a chance he gets taken off the roster in favor of someone the team deems better suited to what they want to do.