Steven Christopher Wilson (born August 24, 1994) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the San Diego Padres of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2022.

Amateur career

Wilson attended Dakota Ridge High School in

Littleton, Colorado Littleton is a home rule municipality city located in Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson counties, Colorado, United States. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistica ...

. In 2012, as a senior, he went 7–1 with a 2.66 ERA while batting .462 with seven home runs. He was selected by the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

in the 35th round of the

2012 Major League Baseball draft The 2012 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held from June 4 through June 6, 2012, from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Houston Astros, with the first overall pick, selected Carlos Correa from the Puerto R ...

, but did not sign and instead enrolled at

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic Mis ...

where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

. Wilson redshirted his freshman year at Santa Clara in 2013. In 2017, he underwent

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's bo ...

, and was forced to redshirt once again. He returned to play in 2018 as a redshirt senior, pitching to a 4–1 record and a 3.07 ERA over 16 games (nine starts), striking out 58 batters over 44 innings. After the season, he was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the eighth round of the

2018 Major League Baseball draft The 2018 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 4, 2018. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was determined based on the reverse order of the 2017 MLB season final standings. In a ...

, and signed for $5,000.

Professional career

After signing with the Padres, Wilson made his professional debut with the Lake Elsinore Storm of the Class A-Advanced

California League The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major Leag ...

, but after two games was reassigned to the

Tri-City Dust Devils The Tri-City Dust Devils are a Minor League Baseball team in the northwest United States, based in Pasco, Washington. The Dust Devils are members of the Northwest League and are affiliated with the Los Angeles Angels. Tri-City plays their home gam ...

of the

Class-A Short Season Class A Short Season (officially Short-Season A) was a level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States from 1965 through 2020. In the hierarchy of minor league classifications, it was below Triple-A, Double-A, Class A-Advanced (cr ...

Northwest League. Over eight innings pitched between the two clubs, he compiled a 7.88 ERA. In 2019, Wilson returned to Lake Elsinore to begin the year before being promoted to the El Paso Chihuahuas of the Class AAA

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

, with whom he finished the season. Over 42 relief appearances between the two clubs, Wilson went 3–3 with a 2.67 ERA, striking out 85 over 64 innings. He did not play a minor league game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. That winter, he played in the Dominican Professional Baseball League (LIDOM). To begin the 2021 season, Wilson returned to El Paso. He was placed on the

injured list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

in mid-May and was activated in early July. Over thirty relief appearances, Wilson went 4–0 with a 3.21 ERA and 71 strikeouts over 42 innings. He returned to LIDOM after the season. On November 19, 2021, the Padres selected Wilson's contract and added him to the 40-man roster. He was named to the team's Opening Day roster to start the 2022 season. He made his MLB debut on April 9, throwing one scoreless inning of relief.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Steven 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Littleton, Colorado Baseball players from Colorado Major League Baseball pitchers San Diego Padres players Santa Clara Broncos baseball players Tri-City Dust Devils players Lake Elsinore Storm players El Paso Chihuahuas players Leones del Escogido players Arizona Complex League Padres players Eau Claire Express players