San Diego Padres Rowan Wick Traded To Chicago Cubs

For their third trade of the day, the San Diego Padres traded away relief pitcher Rowan Wick.

Per Mark Gonzalez, Chicago Cubs beat writer for the Chicago Tribue, the San Diego Padres completed their third trade of the afternoon by sending relief pitcher Rowan Wick to the Chicago Cubs for minor league infielder Jason Vosler.

Originally a catcher and outfielder within the St. Louis Cardinals organization, Rowan Wick was claimed off waivers by the San Diego Padres just before spring training for the 2018 season. He was dominant with the AAA El Paso Chihuahuas, posting a 1.99 ERA in 20 appearances, converting 9 of 10 save opportunities and limiting opponents to a .193 average.

His first taste of the majors with the Padres wasn’t as impressive. He gave up six earned runs on 13 hits across 8.1 innings. To be fair, five hits and five of those runs allowed came in a September 7th outing against the Cincinnati Reds, a game the Padres lost 12-6. Wick will now take his 95 mph fastball to Chicago to try and find his niche in the majors.

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Vosler, a 25-year-old infielder out of Northeastern of the Colonial Athletic Association, is a powerful left-handed bat who appears to be a capable defender, as well. After hitting just three home runs in 2016, Vosler erupted for 21 home runs in Double-A (2017) and hit 23 between Double-A and Triple-A this past season. With the AAA Iowa Cubs, Vosler hit .263, one of the highest averages of his career, and recorded 23 extra-base hits in 63 games.

In an article with the Des Moines Register, Vosler proclaimed that he takes a simple approach at the plate by just trying “focus on hitting line drives.” The article begins by saying that Vosler studied the approach of J.D. Martinez, Joey Votto, and Justin Turner to create his own approach. It seems to be working pretty well for him.

Wick joins Walker Lockett and Colten Brewer as pitchers the Padres traded away today to make room on the 40-man roster for Rule-5 draft eligible prospects. Kudos to A.J. Preller for all three of these moves. With plenty of arms in the system, Preller was able to turn fringe-roster pitchers into higher-upside position players and an intriguing young teenage arm.

With rumors now swirling involving the Seattle Mariners and Wil Myers, the action from today appears to be just a tease.