Cubs Minor Parts: Sam Wilson

Sam Wilson, lefthanded pitcher, 6-2, 200

Drafted in the eighth round in 2013

Likely landing spot in 2014: Low-A Kane County

One of the interesting road trips in the Cubs pipeline is the voyage in the Northwest League to Vancouver. As some in the pipeline, for one reason or another, don't have safe two-way passage through a border guard, some Boise Hawks won't make the trip. That happened as recently as the three-game league finals in September. A few players were left behind in Boise, leaving the team a few bodies short.

In Game 2, the team had enough hitters to fill out a starting lineup, but the number of hitters on the bench was scant. Especially in the outfield. And, since I'm taking multiple paragraphs to describe the story, one of the outfielders was ejected in Game 2, leaving the manager to decide how to proceed.

Lefty reliever Sam Wilson was dispatched to center field (in a more permanent role than Sean Marshall) for three innings in the game, and played well enough. He was pinch-hit for in the late innings when due to hit. However, Wilson is a pitcher in the pros. He was a two-way player at Lamar Community College in Colorado, but he figures to be a moderately-intriguing reliever in Low-A Kane County.

As an eighth-round pure reliever, I hope he can push his way to High-A Daytona by September. The talk is potential mid-90s fastball, if on the lower end, with possible secondaries. And I hope he isn't pushed into being used as an outfielder.