Salt Lake Bees: Angels' Bobby Wilson hopes latest rehab stint with team is his last

SALT LAKE CITY — Bobby Wilson says he loves Utah and its baseball fans, but he hopes he won't ever have to put on a Salt Lake Bees uniform again.

That's not meant to be a slight. Wilson is just ready for the next chapter of his career — at the major league level.

Wilson was wearing his Bees home whites on Sunday afternoon during Salt Lake's 7-2 loss to the Albuquerque Isotopes at Spring Mobile Ballpark. The catcher by trade actually started at first base for the Bees.

But before the game was over he was in street clothes and getting ready to head out to the airport to board a flight. Wilson, following a three-game rehab stint with the Bees after spending most of the past three summers in Utah, was headed to Texas to join his teammates with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, where they will start a series against the Rangers tonight.

"The fans here in Utah were awesome, as usual," said Wilson, who hit .500 with a home run and three RBIs during his brief rehab stint with the Bees. "Everybody has been very supportive and the fans have been telling me that they've been praying for me and they all wished me well and hoped I had a healthy recovery. From top to bottom, everybody has been great to me here."

Wilson, now 26, spent seven seasons as a minor league player with four of those in Utah — one with the old Provo Angels in 2003 and three as the primary catcher for the Bees from 2007-09.

Wilson made the parent L.A. Angels' roster out of spring training this season as the team's third catcher behind Jeff Mathis and Mike Napoli. Playing time was scarce for Wilson, however, but that appeared to be changing when Mathis went on the disabled list due to a fractured wrist.

But just when he was about to get his chance to show what he could do at the next level, Wilson went down with an injury himself in his first start of the year on April 23. He was plowed down by Mark Teixeira of the Yankees during a play at the plate, suffering a concussion and a severe left ankle sprain in the process.

Wilson holds no hard feelings toward Teixeira — saying those types of collisions come with the territory as a catcher. Now he's just excited to be returning to the big leagues — where he plans on staying.

"I'm just going to go up there and play hard and do what I can to help the team win," said Wilson. "That's all you can do and that's all you can control. Whatever happens, happens."