Timothy Scott Wheeler (born January 21, 1988) is an American former professional baseball

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

. He was drafted by the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

in the first round, 32nd overall, of the 2009 Major League Baseball draft. He played college baseball at

Sacramento State California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...

Amateur career

Wheeler attended

El Camino Fundamental High School El Camino Fundamental High School is a public high school in Arden-Arcade, California, near Sacramento. It is part of the San Juan Unified School District. Built in 1951 as El Camino High School, "Fundamental" was added to the name in the late 197 ...

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

. He was a two-sport athlete, playing in the outfield for the baseball team and playing quarterback and defensive back in football. Wheeler 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 ...

Sacramento State University California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...

. In 2008, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Orleans Cardinals The Orleans Firebirds, formerly the Orleans Cardinals, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Orleans, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Firebirds play t ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

and was named a league all-star. In 2009, he was named a second team All-American by ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

'' after hitting .385 with 18

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

and 72

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

Professional career

Wheeler was drafted by the

in the first round, 32nd overall, of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft. He made his professional debut with 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 ...

, playing in 68 games and hitting .256 with 5 home runs and 35 RBI. Prior to the 2010 season, he was ranked as the Rockies' seventh best prospect by Baseball America. Wheeler spent the 2010 season with the High-A

Modesto Nuts The Modesto Nuts are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. They are located in Modesto, California, and are named for the several types of nuts grown in the region. They play the ...

, playing in 129 games and hitting .249/.341/.384 with 12 home runs, 63 RBI, and 22 stolen bases. He played in 138 games with the Double-A

Tulsa Drillers The Tulsa Drillers are a minor league baseball team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The team, which plays in the Texas League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers major-league club. Stadium The Drillers play at ONEOK Field (pronounc ...

in 2011, batting .287/.365/.535 with career-highs in home runs (33) and RBI (86), and 21 stolen bases. Prior to the 2012 season,

rated him the Rockies' fifth best prospect. However, he suffered a fracture of the

hamate bone The hamate bone (from Latin hamatus, "hooked"), or unciform bone (from Latin ''uncus'', "hook"), Latin os hamatum and occasionally abbreviated as just hamatum, is a bone in the human wrist readily distinguishable by its wedge shape and a hook-l ...

in his right hand only a few days into the season. He missed significant time that season, finishing with a .303

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

and 2 home runs in 92 games for the Triple-A

Colorado Springs Sky Sox The Colorado Springs Sky Sox were a Minor League Baseball team in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The team played in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and was the Triple-A affiliate of the major league Milwaukee Brewers (2015–2018), Colorado Rockie ...

. On November 20, 2012, the Rockies added Wheeler to their 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. He played in 109 games with Colorado Springs in 2013, hitting .262/.330/.355 with 5 home runs, 42 RBI, and 12 stolen bases. On November 27, 2013, Wheeler was removed from the 40-man roster and sent outright to Triple-A. Wheeler spent a third straight season with Colorado Springs in 2014, making 119 appearances and slashing .233/.313/.387 with 11 home runs, 45 RBI, and 9 stolen bases. In 2015, Wheeler played in 124 games for the Triple-A

Albuquerque Isotopes The Albuquerque Isotopes are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. They play home games at Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at an el ...

, batting .245/.345/.367 with 10 home runs, 45 RBI, and 16 stolen bases. He elected free agency following the season on November 6, 2015.

Coaching career

On May 21, 2016, Wheeler joined the

Humboldt Crabs The Humboldt Crabs are a collegiate summer baseball team located in Arcata, California. Playing in every season since they were founded in 1945 by Lou Bonomini, later joined by Ned Barsuglia, the Crabs are the oldest continually-operated summer co ...

as the team’s hitting coach, working alongside manager Tyson Fisher and pitching coach Eric Giacone. From 2017 to 2019, Wheeler was the outfield and hitting coach at

, his alma mater, serving under head coach

Reggie Christiansen Reggie Aaron Christiansen (born August 28, 1975) is an American college baseball coach who has served as head coach of the Sacramento State Hornets baseball team since 2011. Christiansen was previously head coach at Menlo and South Dakota State. A ...

References

External links

1988 births Living people Sacramento State Hornets baseball players Orleans Firebirds players Tri-City Dust Devils players Modesto Nuts players Tulsa Drillers players Salt River Rafters players Colorado Springs Sky Sox players Albuquerque Isotopes players Baseball players from Sacramento, California Players of American football from Sacramento, California {{US-baseball-outfielder-1980s-stub