After trying times, Moore excited to make next step with Phillies

Vauxhall Jets and Kansas State alum Wesley Moore (Surrey, B.C.) recently signed his first pro contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. Photo: K-State Athletics

December 15, 2022

By Matt Betts

Canadian Baseball Network

The climbing of the baseball ladder is rarely a linear path.

It’s a journey that often features ups and downs, twists and turns and plenty of adversity along the way.

Just ask left-handed pitcher Wesley Moore (Surrey, B.C.). It’s a path he’s learned to embrace over the past five years of his baseball career and has led him to signing his first professional contract with the Philadelphia Phillies this offseason.

His rise through the baseball ranks began under Garnett Pawliw as a youngster in British Columbia before he moved on to Vauxhall Academy in Alberta at the age of 15 to play for highly regarded head coach Les McTavish.

During his time with McTavish and the Jets, he was selected to play for the Canadian Junior National Team at the 2017 U18 World Cup, making three appearances and going 1-1 with a 4.76 ERA en route to a fourth place finish.

In the bronze medal game against Japan, it was Moore who director of men’s national teams Greg Hamilton turned the ball to as the starter. Moore would last three innings and allow four runs (three earned) on three hits with a pair of walks and a strikeout in an 8-1 defeat.

From there the 6-foot-2, 200-pound hurler headed for the bright lights of Los Angeles after committing to California State University, Northridge. It seemed like the perfect fit, that was until the end of his second season.

“I spent two years at CSUN,” Moore said. “I loved my time there but after my sophomore year the coaching staff was fired and I knew it was time to leave.”

That’s really when his career started to take turns that were sharper than an 0-2 slider.

Knowing his time in Los Angeles was over, Moore entered the transfer portal and connected with the coaches at Kansas State University. The Wildcats, who play in the power five Big 12 Conference, offered Moore a spot and everything seemed to be getting back on track.

Not so fast.

Back in 2019 when players transferred from one Division I program to another, they were required to sit out a season before playing for their new program. Moore and the Wildcats appealed the rule due to the situation with the coaching staff at Cal State Northridge.

“When I got to K-State we appealed the NCAA to try and play the year of my transfer but they turned the appeal down,” Moore said. “I had to sit out that season and in March everyone got sent home because of COVID-19.”

It wouldn’t be Moore’s last run-in with the NCAA.

A coaching change, the transfer portal, NCAA red tape and then COVID-19 putting the 2020 season on ice made for quite the rocky few years.

But wait, there’s more.

“I went back to K-State the next fall and started to experience some elbow pain,” Moore said. “The next spring in March of 2021 I had Tommy John surgery which took me out for another year.”

For those keeping track at home, that’s four full seasons and just over two spent on the field.

When Moore returned to the mound in 2022 for the Wildcats, things just weren’t quite right. Dealing with lingering soreness and inconsistency he made 10 appearances, four of which were starts, and posted a 6.50 ERA.

So that’s now five college seasons in the books. Two at Cal State Northridge, a year he had to sit and was sent home due to COVID, a year recovering from Tommy John and an inconsistent 2022.

But there appeared to be some light at the end of the tunnel, or so he thought.

The NCAA began granting players an additional year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season. Moore was hopeful he’d get one more shot at impressing the many scouts who turn out to take in Big 12 baseball.

“At the end of the 2022 season I was told that is was almost certain I had another season,” Moore recalled. “I went to play for the Bellingham Bells in the West Coast League and had an amazing summer and felt 100 per cent again. Throughout the summer my coaches at K-State along with the NCAA compliance investigated to find out if I had another season in the NCAA. My coaches and I sent an appeal to the NCAA asking for another season, to hopefully either get my transfer year back because the transfer portal opened up not long after I transferred or get my COVID year along with everyone else in the NCAA.”

His first appeal? Denied.

Not ready to give up yet, he sent in a second appeal in July of 2022.

The waiting game followed.

“Late August was my report date at K-State,” Moore said. “It was now mid-September I was still in Canada waiting on a decision from the NCAA. I decided to drive down to Manhattan, KS to go and train and wait for a decision.”

His second appeal? Also denied.

“On my way down to school my coach called to inform me the NCAA denied our appeal for my COVID season or transfer year,” Moore said. “ I was surprised to still not get my COVID season because the rest of the NCAA did.”

Having been through tough times before, Moore refused to let the news define him. Instead, he went back to work.

“I began training at K-State with a goal of setting up scouting bullpens to try and get signed thanks to a ton of help from Pete Hughes, my head coach at K-State,” he said. “I threw very well for the scouts and the Phillies gave me an opportunity.”

Now he’s ready for the next step in his winding baseball journey.

He’ll take his low-to-mid 90s fastball, his plus change up and sharp curveball to Clearwater, Fla., in early 2023 for his first Spring Training.

When he arrives, he plans to do what he’s always done, attack hitters and be ready for whatever is thrown his way.