Willie MacIver

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William Joseph MacIver

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Biographical Information[edit]

Catcher Willie MacIver was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 9th round of the 2018 amateur draft out of the University of Washington; he probably would have gone higher but he missed the first two months of his junior season in 2018 with a hamate bone injury. He ended his college career with an appearance in the 2018 College World Series. He began his pro career that same year with the Boise Hawks of the Northwest League, where he hit .284/.358/.443 in 54 games. He followed that up with an excellent season in 2019 when he was named both a mid-season and post-season All-Star in the South Atlantic League after hitting .252/.319/.421 in 117 games for the Asheville Tourists, with 27 doubles and 30 homers in addition to 60 runs and as many RBIs.

He then had to sit out the 2020 season while the minor leagues were shut down by the Coronavirus pandemic, but was able to spend the summer at the major league team's alternate training site, gaining valuable experience even if there was no game action. In 2021, he played at three different levels, starting out with the Spokane Indians of the High-A West and then getting successive promotions to the Hartford Yard Goats of the Double-A Northeast and Albuquerque Isotopes of Triple-A West. In between the three stops, he hit a combined .220/.314/.390, hitting well at Spokane but struggling some in AA (he only played 3 games in AAA). The power was still there, with 15 doubles and 15 homers, and his defense was generally considered to be ahead of his bat at that point. He was selected to represent the National League at the 2021 Futures Game which was played at the Rockies' home ballpark, Coors Field.

He played three more seasons in the Rockies' system, from 2022 to 2024, with part of each of these spent in AAA with Albuquerque. However, hitting just .226 in 104 games the first year hurt his ratings as a prospect, in spite of his slugging 15 homers, all in AA. The second year, an injury meant that he played just 49 games for Albuquerque, hitting .252, and he hit just 3 homers. In 2024, he got back into his groove, as he hit .297 with 15 homers and 56 RBIs in 89 games for the Isotopes. He elected for free agency after the season and signed with The Athletics, starting the 2025 season with the AAA Las Vegas Aviators. He mashed the cover off the ball over the first couple of months there, batting .389 in 35 games to get the call to West Sacramento, CA on May 23rd. He made his debut two days later, starting behind the plate against the Philadelphia Phillies and going 1 for 4 with an RBI in a 5-4 win. The A's were chock-full of strong-hitting catchers at that point, with Tyler Soderstrom and Shea Langeliers also on the team, although Soderstrom had to play out of position either at first base or in left field because of the abundance of riches at the position. It turned out that one of the first places he was needed was on the mound, as his third career game was a mop-up pitching appearance against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 29th. Throwing nothing but very slow curveballs better suited to a slow-pitch softball game, he gave up three singles, but no runs in his inning of work. He played 32 games for the Athletics, batting .186 with 3 homers and 9 RBIs, for an OPS+ of 56. That was in addition to 54 games for Las Vegas, where he hit .362 with 7 homers and 56 RBIs. Following the season, he was claimed off waivers by the Texas Rangers.

He started the 2026 season with the Round Rock Express, Texas' top minor league affiliate, but played relatively little as he was sharing catching duties with Cooper Johnson and José Herrera. He had just appeared in 14 games, batting .170, when he was purchased by the Toronto Blue Jays on April 24th. This came while an injury to Alejandro Kirk had exposed how thin the Jays were at the position at the upper levels of the organization.

Related Sites[edit]

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