![\"36974_135797369779429_6302077_n\"](\"http:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/wisconsin-woodchucks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2016\/04\/36974_135797369779429_6302077_n-e1460123729131.jpg\")
\n<\/p>\n\n\t \n<\/p>\n
\n\t
\n\t \n<\/p>\n
\n\tTwenty-seven year old, Kevin Pillar, played for the Wisconsin Woodchucks as an outfielder in 2010. He is the 109th<\/sup> former Northwoods League player to debut in MLB. Pillar showed glimpses of his talent during his time with the Woodchucks, but more importantly he showcased his incredible drive to succeed. Arriving in Wausau as a relatively unknown and overlooked player, Pillar demonstrated that he was different by running into walls and diving to catch balls. Ryan Treu, Woodchucks President, remembers Kevin Pillar as a player that "didn’t know he was playing summer ball.” In summer ball, players are commonly unwilling to take any chance that would risk injury.\n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\tKevi \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\tNothing has ever come easy for Kevin Pillar. On draft day in 2011, Pillar started watching the draft in the first round with friends anxiously anticipating hearing his name called. Two days later, on the morning of the third day, he was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 32nd<\/sup> round making him the 979th<\/sup> player drafted. Pillar’s signing bonus of $1,000 was so small he needed to borrow money from his mother to buy a new iPhone. Toronto’s GM Alex Anthopoulos admits that even the Blue Jays made a mistake as Pillar was the first player out of Toronto’s 2011 draft to make it to the Major Leagues. Pillar made his Major League debut in 2013.\n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t \n\tDuring Pillar’s first two seasons in Toronto there were a few positive moments, including a highlight reel catch on his first night in the majors and a walk off single that beat Minnesota. However, Pillar could never crack the starting lineup. Then, on June 24th<\/sup>, he was sent back down to the minors for throwing a bat when he was pinch hit for. The embarrassment of being sent back down to the minors forced Pillar to reexamine his approach. When he came back to the majors he had a new attitude and batting stance.\n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\tKevin Pillar is the starting center fielder for the Blue Jays and continues to strive in his career. His die hard passion, memorable dives, and catches will keep everyone in awe of his incredible talent. Toronto appears to be a very strong team and it is with great hopes that we will get to see Kevin Pillar starring on the big stage again in October 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Twenty-seven year old, Kevin Pillar, played for the Wisconsin Woodchucks as an outfielder in 2010. He is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":3815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-team-news","category-update-ticker"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Kevin](\"http:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/wisconsin-woodchucks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2016\/04\/Kevin-Pillar7-e1460122444177.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
![\"Kevin](\"http:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/wisconsin-woodchucks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2016\/04\/Kevin-Pillar4.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
![\"Kevin](\"http:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/wisconsin-woodchucks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2016\/04\/Kevin-Pillar6-e1460122861771.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
![\"Kevin](\"http:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/wisconsin-woodchucks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2016\/04\/Kevin-Pillar5-e1460122962273.jpg\")