Like I said in the Bullets today, no matter what the Cubs do in terms of adding another sure-fire reliever (or not), they will be making the depth/reclamation type moves. It’s what they do, and there’s no reason not to try. The downside is nothing. The upside is Mark Leiter Jr. or Julian Merryweather.
Earlier, we discussed the Blake Weiman signing, and now there’s another to discuss, via Ken Rosenthal:
Sam McWilliams, 28, is a righty originally drafted by the Phillies almost a decade ago. He was thereafter traded to the Phillies, and then to the Rays, working his way up the minor league ladder as a starting pitching prospect. He reached Triple-A by 2019, but then the pandemic happened, and he reached minor league free agency after 2020. From there, he was a guy clearly at that cusp of big league utility, bouncing from the Mets to the Padres to the Reds (briefly on the 40-man rosters of the Mets and Padres), but not quite reaching the Major Leagues. He was also a Royals Rule 5 Draft pick at one point in there, too.
He briefly retired after 2022, before returning this year to pitch in relief in the Mexican League, where he pitched reasonably well (3.55 ERA (it’s an offense-heavy league), 29/14 K/BB over 25.1 IP). I’m not seeing anything at Baseball-Reference for him for the Dominican Winter League this year, but Licey’s social media accounts indicate McWilliams was on the team in January.
Kind of a wild story for Sam McWilliams. Guy has been all over, and it would certainly be pretty impressive if he found his way to the big leagues after all of this.
I’m not finding too much in the way of current scouting reports on McWilliams, but I’ll be looking around (and we’re going to hear more when the team arrives in Arizona en masse). On paper, looks like an upside relief play for Triple-A Iowa, thinking perhaps that he worked something out in his time in Mexico and in his transition to full-time relief.
(Featured photo by Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports.)