Wilson Makes Spring Training Roster

It’s a long road from the 28th round in the MLB Draft to a roster spot on a Major League Team, but former Harvard player Steffan Wilson '08 may have a chance to complete the journey this season. Wilson was added yesterday to the spring training roster for the Milwaukee Brewers, where he was called up to back MLB star Prince Fielder.

It was a big jump for Wilson, who spent last year playing in the Class A Advanced or “A+” league for the Brevard County, part of the Brewers’ farm system. He batted .272 with 13 home runs, 15 doubles, and 60 RBIs.

Wilson played baseball for the Crimson for three years before leaving Cambridge a year early to pursue his baseball dreams. Some regarded it as a bad move given that his junior year performance failed to match preseason expectations, but the first baseman couldn’t turn down a shot at his childhood dream of making the Big Leagues even if it meant leaving Harvard coach Joe Walsh and Harvard baseball behind. General manager Doug Melvin say his primarily role will be to allow Fielder to get some rest time in drills, a comment not surprisingly left off the GoCrimson update.

So while it remains unlikely that 2010 will be the magic year for Wilson to play in a regular season game, membership on the Spring Training roster means that he can always say he was on a major league baseball team even if it was just for spring training.

And he can always follow the lead of Brian Scalabrine, speaking here on not playing during the Celtics 2008 Title Run:

“Maybe now you could say I didn't play a second, but in five years, you guys are going to forget. In ten years I'll still be a champion. In 20 years I'll tell my kids I probably started, and in 30 years I'll probably tell them I got the MVP. So I'm probably not too worried about it.”

A Crimson article on Steffan Wilson from the 2007 season can be found here.