The actual season that Weston Wilson played is totally fine: bland, average, fungible. He’s a bench player and no more. There is honor in that as teams are always looking for bench bats that can produce.
His path was marred by injury, but his actual place on the roster brings up some questions about how the team builds a roster.
2025 stats
125 PA, .198/.292/.369, 5 HR, 17 RBI, 27.2 K%, 9,6 BB%, 81 wRC+, -0.4 fWAR
What went right
He was a right handed bat. The team didn’t have many of them in their upper minors system and with his last year of being able to ride the Lehigh Valley express, that plays a useful part in a season.
What went wrong
Getting hurt right out of the blocks really derailed his year. Wilson was on track to share playing time with Max Kepler and/or Brandon Marsh depending on the night. As the right handed side of a platoon in the outfield, Wilson had shown enough in 2024 that the team wanted to give him a shot.
A strained oblique in spring training changed those plans and Wilson was subsequently passed on that right handed bench guy depth chart by Otto Kemp. There was still a smattering of playing time available to him as the season wore on, but he never really grabbed it and ran and now he doesn’t have minor league options left.
The future with the Phillies
That’s the funny thing about Wilson’s lack of options. Now, he’s a minor league free agent and his usefulness with the team has run its course.
In the past, I’ve written about the team’s philosophy to building minor league depth with players like Wilson. It’s something that they have lacked in, mostly because of their major league roster. Players who are free agents and looking for major league employment probably aren’t going to take a minor league deal with the Phillies because so many of their spots are already locked in. If you are a shortstop that has two minor league deals available to you, chances are you aren’t taking the one with the Phillies because the chances of you actually playing shortstop at the major league level are slim to none.
The Phillies are going to need to figure out a way to combat this. They’ve been blessed with pretty remarkable health these past four seasons they have been in the playoffs, but 2025 was a bit of a test. When Trea Turner went down, we saw Edmundo Sosa step right in. Yet when he came up a bit gimpy as well, then we were left to watch Bryson Stott move to the spot and an inferior bat and glove take his position at second. Having minor league depth is something that all teams would like, but as a team like the Phillies gets a bit older, they’re going to need a bit more of it.
Wilson is now 30 years old and not a major league starter. He’s no longer got minor league options the team can utilize to maintain some playable depth. Chances are he moves along to another team on the start of his journey to gain even the slimmest of shots at returning to the major leagues. Maybe the Phillies bring him back, maybe they don’t. Having him at Lehigh Valley at a player they can add and drop from their 40-man roster isn’t the worst idea. They need players like him.
Maybe they could try….developing them?
