Athletics infielder Jacob Wilson looks like a clear rookie of the year
USA Today Sports ‘Steve Gardner classifies the performances of top rookies in the first half of the MLB season.
Sports Pulse
Atlanta – He is a 23 year old child.
He still plays baseball video games before he goes to work.
He loves pizza, burgers and good milkshakes.
His name is Jacob Wilson, a rookie shortstop for athletics in Sacramento.
He also happens to be the best pure old-fashioned batsman in baseball.
Wilson, who played at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix two years ago, will host his coming party in the All-Star Game.
He is the first rookie shortstop to be voted by fans to start an All-Star Game since Vida Blue in 1971.
“What he’s doing is incredible,” said Bobby Whitt Jr., shortstop for the Kansas City Royals All-Star.
In this world of fire angles and exit speeds filled with walks, strikeouts, and homer, Wilson is extraordinary.
Wilson hits .332 with just 26 extra bass hits and nine home runs.
And are you ready for this?
He hit just 28 innings and walked 20 times in 340 at-bats.
It’s as if Tony Gwyn and Rod Carew, paired to win 15 batting titles in their Hall of Fame careers, went through the door.
A career of .338 batsman, Gwynn never hit more than 40 times in the season of his career and never walked more than 59 times.
Career .327 batter Carew has hit less than 62 times in his last 14 seasons, but has never walked 80 times in a year.
So, a young child, Wilson brings out the old soul and reminds everyone what baseball looks like when there are pure batters in the game.
“You can’t hit with Jacob,” said A’s All-Star DH Brent Luker. “Because I don’t understand what he’s doing there.
“He just goes there and he sees the ball, he hits the ball with the barrel and he hits it. I absolutely can’t do it.”
Anyway, how do you get him out?
“Believe me, we tried everything,” said Seattle Mariners All-Star catcher Cal Laurie. “He has really good zone control. He’s not trying to do much damage, but he can do damage. He’s a crude guy who’s just trying to do whatever he can to get on the base.
“What he can do, especially at a young age, is impressive.”
“That’s not fair.”
Yankees All-Star pitcher Carlos Rodon saw him at the American League clubhouse on Monday and groaned about the difficulty of stopping him and pitching him.
“I said, ‘Hey, I’m looking at the scouting report about you, and it’s throwing a fastball, because you shouldn’t have hard contacts, and that’s what I’m saying.’ I throw four seamers and you doubled me.
“You don’t know what to expect from someone who has low mistakes and you can get quality contact there,” Rodon said. “That’s not fair. What do I do with a guy like this? You’re not going to attack him, so you’re trying to get a pitch that limits the launch or limits the exit speed.
“What people are doing now is very different.”
Well, even refreshing.
“It’s an explosion to see. It’s great to see,” Rooker said. “The ability to swing on every pitch, hit every pitch, hit every pitch is something unique in our game, and that makes him invaluable.
“That’s why I saw him being selected as a starter. It tells the amount of success he had, the impact he had in a short time, and the statement he’s making.”
Wilson’s batting average and hit totals are second only to New York Yankees MVP Aaron Judge, and Wilson could be the first athletic player topped .321 since former A MVP Jason Jambi in 2001.
“I definitely got a lot of comments from the guys,” Wilson said.
“I want to swing. I never want to walk. I just want to hit and ride the bass.”
Yes, I led them through the doors of Cooperstown, with the same mindset that Carew and Gwynn filmed throughout their careers.
The same goes for three-time San Diego Padres batting champion Louis Aráès. He is a career 0.317 batter and has never hit more than 48 times in his seven-year career or walked 50 times in a season.
“That guy hit everything,” Wilson said of Alaes. “You throw the ball everywhere and he swings and hits. It’s very great just to watch, and from a batter’s perspective, you appreciate it. I love watching it go there.
Certainly, he’s a throwback with today’s batsman and is almost excited to go for a walk rather than hit. Rather than trying to drive on a run, the manager drives the manager’s nuts as he sees the runners take a walk with the runners on a score.
“If a power hitter can’t run, what is my walk from a power hitter?” one NL manager told USA Today Sports. “All he does is choke the base pass. I don’t understand that.”
Not Wilson either.
“There are a lot of people who do that,” Wilson said. “It’s part of their game. It’s not the strength I have for me. I got up there and threw a lot of strikes.
“For me, batting averages have to be an important statistic for all batters.”
Perhaps even in a day, anyone who knows he’s a 0.300 batter will be considered cool again.
“I just want,” Wilson said.
