The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs have signed the former Philadelphia Phillies second round pick, left-hander Ethan Wilson to bolster the outfield for the 2025 season.

Wilson, from Andalusia, Alabama, played college baseball at University of South Alabama. He was then selected by the Philadelphia Phillies 49th overall of the 2021 MLB Draft. The 6’1, 210 pound 25-year-old has played all three of the outfield positions.

Wilson began his professional career in the Phillies’ minor league system, starting in Low-A in 2021, where he hit three home runs and drove in 17 in 30 games. In 2022, he moved to the South Atlantic League in A-ball, while also making it to Double-A Reading for the first time. In High-A Jersey Shore, he had 101 hits in 112 games, had 20 doubles, seven home runs, and 45 RBIs.

In 2023 season, he was called up to Double-A full time and was in the Opening Day lineup as the 14th top-prospect of the Phillies. That year, he hit .250, 17 homers and drove in 61. He had over 100 hits again, this time with 105 hits in 114 games played. Wilson accomplished consecutive seasons with over 20 doubles, he had 24 in 2023, and 20 in 2022.

During 2024 spring training, Wilson underwent appendectomy surgery. He missed several weeks recovering. He was reinstated on the active roster on April 25th of last season after having to take time off.

He split time between Reading and made his debut in Triple-A, playing five games at that level, collecting three hits including a home run. He played 91 games in Double-A, hitting nine blasts and drove in 36, while also adding 14 doubles.

Wilson has played all outfield positions, in leftfield, he carries a fielding percentage of .990 in over 1,000 innings at that position while with the Phillies. In Rightfield, in over 1,500 innings, he has a career .979 fielding percentage.

This is Wilson’s fifth professional season, and first with the Blue Crabs.

The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs also announce that a key piece of their starting rotation the past two seasons, will return, as right-handed Pitcher Ian Kahaloa returns to Southern Maryland. The native Hiwaiian will return to the Southern Maryland rotation for a third season.

The 27-year-old, former 5th round pick by the Reds returns after back-to-back 10-9 seasons, while also leading the Atlantic League in strikeouts with 138 in 2024. Kahaloa was also ninth in the league with a 5.48 ERA last season, and had the fourth most innings pitched with 131 and a third innings. Kahaloa had nine quality starts for the Blue Crabs, including several dominate performances.

On June 4th against Lexington, he tossed seven innings allowing no earned runs while striking out 11. Against Lexington on July 3rd, he notched seven innings allowing one run, and fanning 10. He held Gastonia to three hits over six innings, while not allowing a run, he also K’d nine in that contest. Finally, his longest outing of the year, seven and two thirds at home against Charleston, where he gave up one run on five hits and had eight strikeouts on August 21st.

Kahaloa has a career mark of 20-18 as a Crab, in 49 starts, while carrying an ERA of 4.72 in two seasons. This will be Kahaloa’s seventh professional season and third here in Southern Maryland.

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