A's Top Prospect Just Keeps Hitting
When Jacob Wilson was selected by the Oakland Athletics with the sixth overall pick in last year's MLB Draft, the main takeaway for most observers was that he makes loads of contact. In 217 plate appearances in college in 2023, Wilson struck out a grand total of five times. That same contact ability has followed him in the minor leagues, and has propelled him to Triple-A in just his first full season in pro ball.
After he signed with the A's last summer, he spent 23 games in High-A Lansing, and hit .318 with a .378 on-base. He began this year in Double-A Midland, and after a blistering beginning to his '24 campaign where he hit .455 with a .473 OBP in 22 games, he was promoted to Triple-A.
Wilson played for six games with Las Vegas before landing on the IL for a month, but he returned to the lineup as the team's leadoff hitter this week and has simply continued to hit. Three of his four games have included multiple hits, and on Saturday in Las Vegas, he smacked two home runs, the first multi-homer game of his pro career. This was part of a 4-for-5 evening that bumped his batting average up to .429 in his tenth game in Triple-A.
Jacob Wilson AGAIN!
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 30, 2024
MLB's No. 51 prospect notches his first multihomer game as a pro -- with Triple-A roundtrippers No. 1 + 2 🤯@AviatorsLV | @Athletics pic.twitter.com/EZ7PGrZ6KN
Yes, it's a pretty small sample size. But he's also hit at every level he's played thus far, and in the four games he's played in since returning he has struck out just once while drawing three walks. Just as a quick reminder, he missed a month of time and was preparing for the MLB Draft at this point last year. He is 9-for-18 in those four games.
This isn't normal.
Sure, Jacob Wilson is considered a top-100 prospect by the prospect rankers, but they don't have him at the top of their lists. MLB Pipeline has him at No. 51. FanGraphs has him at No. 86. Obviously the track record isn't terribly long, but what he has shown thus far is that he has quite a bit of talent when it comes to putting the bat on the ball.
One caveat for his Saturday perfromance is that his second home run had an exit velocity of just 94.4 miles per hour, which isn't even considered a hard-hit ball (95 mph). Yet, the friendly nature of the Pacific Coast League lets balls struck at the right launch angle (in this case 34 degrees) to go over the fence. It went 378 feet and had an expected batting average of just .060. That happens sometimes in the PCL.
Still, the overwhelming evidence at hand is that Wilson is the real deal. He has put up similar stats at every step along the way thus far, and not every league is as hitter-friendly as the PCL.
The Oakland A's promoted both Tyler Soderstrom and Zack Gelof for the first game after the All Star break last year with Gelof having played in 69 games with Vegas and Soderstrom getting 77 before his promotion. To hit that same timeframe, Wilson would have played in about 34 games by the end of next month.
If he keeps on hitting like he currently is, it would be hard to make a case that he should stay down much longer by that point.
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JASON BURKE
Jason is the host of the Locked on A's podcast, and the managing editor of Inside the A's. He's a new father and can't wait to take his son to his first baseball game at the Coliseum.Â