The Mets announced Friday that they’ve signed right-hander Sam McWilliams to a one-year, Major League contract. The 25-year-old has yet to make his MLB debut and spent the 2020 season in the Rays’ 60-man player pool.
An eighth-round pick by the Phillies back in 2014, McWilliams was traded to the D-backs a year after being selected in the deal that brought righty Jeremy Hellickson to Philadelphia. Arizona then shipped him to Tampa Bay alongside southpaw Colin Poche to complete their acquisition of Steven Souza Jr. in 2018.
The 6’7″ McWilliams has just 44 innings of Triple-A work under his belt, and they didn’t go particularly well (8.18 ERA), but he fared well prior to reaching the top minor league level. In a total of 535 innings since being drafted, he owns a 3.85 ERA with 7.0 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and 1.4 HR/9. He’ll step into one of the three vacancies the Mets had on their 40-man roster, bringing their total to 37 players.