Big Leaguer, Overland Park Native Wiles Joins Kansas City Monarchs
August 6, 2024 - American Association (AA)
Kansas City Monarchs News Release
KANSAS CITY, Kan. - An Overland Park, Kansas native with major league service time is coming home to play for the Kansas City Monarchs.
The Monarchs announced the signing of former Oakland Athletics pitcher Collin Wiles on Tuesday afternoon. Wiles is the sixth greater-Kansas City area native to pitch for the Monarchs this season and the sixth former MLB player on the Monarchs' current roster.
Wiles will make his Monarchs debut Tuesday, starting the second game of a doubleheader against Sioux City at Legends Field. The Monarchs started a 13-game homestand on Monday night. Tickets are available at tickets.monarchsbaseball.com.
Wiles was a first-round draft pick by the Texas Rangers out of Blue Valley West High School in 2012.
The RHP was named the 2011-12 Gatorade Kansas Baseball Player of the Year and led the Jaguars to a 6A State Championship Game appearance.
He was called up to The Show with Oakland during the 2022 season, where he recorded nine strikeouts in 9.1 innings.
"Being a strike thrower at his experience level, there's a bunch of things that stand out," Monarchs seventh-year manager Joe Calfapietra said. "Bringing someone with his experience here for the stretch drive is crucial."
The right-hander joins Matt Hall as one of two former MLB players in the Monarchs' rotation.
The Monarchs currently hold the final spot in the West Division playoff race.
"We have an experienced staff. [Collin] is going to bring another addition to that here in August," Calfapietra said. "It's going to be a big acquisition."
Wiles commanded a 7.4 K/9 during his time in Triple-A for the Rangers and Athletics. He struck out 106 batters for the Athletics' Las Vegas Aviators in 2022.
This is the second straight season that the Monarchs brought in a former MLB pitcher in August.
Kansas City signed former Colorado Rockies and Cincinnati Reds pitcher Ashton Goudeau in August 2023. The right-hander went 3-0 in the postseason to help guide the Monarchs to a 2023 Miles Wolff Cup.
Calfapietra hopes more of the same for Wiles.
"He has to come in and compete and hopefully he does really well, Ashton was the same way." Calfapietra said. "Collin is a similar-type guy with similar experience, so we're hoping it all works out in the same fashion."
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