Wilkerson is the 197th former Northwoods League player to debut in MLB

Rochester, Minn. – Former La Crosse Logger Steve Wilkerson, made his Major League debut for the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday, June 20, 2018. Wilkerson is the 197th former Northwoods League player to reach the Major League level.

Wilkerson, who played collegiately at Clemson, played for the La Crosse Loggers in 2011. He was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 8th round of the 2014 MLB Draft.

In 31 games with the Loggers during the 2011 season Wilkerson hit .238 with five doubles and seven RBI.

Wilkerson started his Minor League career in 2014 with the Aberdeen IronBirds of the Short-Season A New York-Penn League. He played in 60 games and hit .190 with two home runs and 15 RBI. He also had nine doubles and stole three bases.

Wilkerson was promoted for the 2015 season to the Delmarva Shorebirds of the Lo-A South Atlantic League. He played in 92 games for Delmarva and hit .287 with two home runs, 15 doubles and four triples. He drove in 30 runs and stole 10 bases.

For the 2016 season, Wilkerson moved up to the Frederick Keys of the Hi-A Carolina League. He would play in 114 games for the Keys before a promotion to the Bowie Baysox to end the season. In 117 games he hit .251 with four home runs, 17 doubles and four triples.  He also had 36 RBI and stole a career high 18 bases.

Wilkerson started the 2017 season in Frederick and then was promoted after 41 games to Bowie. Over 112 games between the two clubs he had career highs in average at .305, home runs with eight, doubles with 23 and RBI with 45.

Prior to being called up by the Orioles, Wilkerson had played in 16 games with the Norfolk Tides of the AAA International League and was hitting .290 with three home runs and four doubles while driving in nine runs.

In his Major League debut against the Washington Nationals, Wilkerson entered the game in the bottom of the ninth inning replacing Zach Britton, batting first and playing third base. He would finish the game at third with the Orioles winning the game 3-0.

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The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Now in its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 190 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.