The Padres announced (via Twitter) that right-hander Sam McWilliams has been claimed off waivers from the Mets. Right-hander Taylor Williams was moved to the 60-day injured list to create 40-man roster space for McWilliams.
New York designated McWilliams for assignment earlier this week, as the righty had gotten off to a very rough start in his first 8 1/3 innings for Triple-A Syracuse. McWilliams issued eight walks and also allowed three home runs over those 8 1/3 frames, en route to a 10.80 ERA.
Over 52 1/3 career innings at the Triple-A level in both the Mets and Rays organizations, McWilliams now has an 8.60 ERA. Though he has yet to reach the big leagues, the Mets inked McWilliams to a one-year MLB deal worth $750K last November, taking a flier on a promising young arm.
The Padres will now assume the remainder of that salary as per their waiver claim, and they’ll see if they can get McWilliams on track. Given the number of trades between the Padres and Rays in recent years, it wouldn’t be surprising if San Diego had initially had interest in McWilliams back in his days in Tampa’s farm system.