BIOGRAPHY
Wil Myers was born on December 10, 1990, in Thomasville, North Carolina. He is a third baseman, outfielder, and first baseman in the MLB.
Myers was drafted by the Kansas City Royals as a catcher in the third round, with the 91st overall selection, of the 2009 Major League Baseball draft. Myers signed a contract with the Royals, that included a $2 million signing bonus, in August 2009. Before the draft, Myers had committed to South Carolina during his junior year.
Myers made his debut in professional baseball in 2009, when he played catcher and batted .369 with 5 home runs in 84 at bats with Royals' Rookie League affiliates, the Idaho Falls Chukars and the Burlington Royals. Myers began the 2010 season playing catcher for the Burlington Bees of the Midwest League, and was named to the Midwest League All Star team. On July 1, 2010, the Royals promoted Myers to the Wilmington Blue Rocks of the Carolina League, a league generally considered more advanced than those in which he had previously played.
Myers played catcher and finished the 2010 season batting .315 with a .429 on-base percentage overall, and totaled 14 home runs, 83 runs batted in, and 85 walks between his time in the Midwest League and Carolina League. In 2011, playing for the Class AA Northwest Arkansas Naturals, he batted .254 with 8 home runs and 49 RBIs in 99 games. He played primarily outfield in 2012, and was named to appear in the 2012 All-Star Futures Game.
On December 9, 2012, Myers was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays, along with Jake Odorizzi, Patrick Leonard, and Mike Montgomery in exchange for James Shields, Wade Davis, and a player to be named later (later chosen to be Elliot Johnson). He started the 2013 season with the Triple-A Durham Bulls of the International League. On June 17, Myers was called up to the Rays, for whom he played outfield. Myers won the AL Rookie of the Year award in 2013, beating teammate and pitcher Chris Archer and Detroit shortstop José Iglesias.
On December 19, 2014, the Rays traded Myers, Ryan Hanigan, and Jose Castillo to the San Diego Padres as part of a three-team transaction, in which the Padres traded Jake Bauers, Burch Smith, and René Rivera to the Rays, the Padres traded Joe Ross and Trea Turner to the Washington Nationals, and Washington traded Steven Souza and Travis Ott to Tampa Bay.
In the 2020 season shortened by COVID-19, Myers played in 55 of the 60 games and batted .288/.353/.606 with 15 home runs and 40 RBIs.
On August 18, Myers hit a grand slam in a 6-4 road win against the Texas Rangers, which extended San Diego’s grand slam streak to 2 games. Two days later, the Padres would make history as the first team in MLB history to hit a grand slam in four consecutive games.
In 2021, following the addition of Blake Snell, Myers switched to number 5 for the first time in his career.
In 146 games, Myers regressed to a .256/.334/.434 batting line, adding 17 home runs and 68 RBIs.