Should the Athletics be Concerned About Jacob Wilson's Defense?
The Oakland Athletics selected Jacob Wilson with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, and he quickly rocketed his way to the big-leagues, debuting in Oakland last season. Now the team is off to Sacramento with Wilson slotted in as their shortstop.
Yet, looking at his numbers from his debut season, his defense was below league average in a small sample size, with the shortstop racking up -2 Outs Above Average per Statcast.
This could be pushed away with a couple of simple explanations, like this was his debut, and after hitting over .400 in the minors, he was struggling at the plate for the first time of his young career. He also suffered a hamstring injury in his MLB debut, which likely limited his range a bit when he returned later in the season.
Wilson is ranked as the No. 31 overall prospect in MLB by Pipeline, though The Athletic's Keith Law left him off of his top-100 list entirely, instead putting him in the "just missed" portion of the rankings, citing Wilson's defense as a concern.
"Scouting reports on him in college (including my own) had him as a plus defender at short, with excellent hands and at worst above-average range, but his range was just average in Triple A and below that in the big leagues, especially moving to his left or right.
"I had him as a soft or second-division regular in last year’s reports, and I’m sticking with that — I think he’s a little better than he showed in the majors, but I’m concerned that we all overrated the defense, and the bat isn’t going to make up for that."
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Again, the injury likely plays a role here, especially in his big-league numbers. But as Law points out, is his bat going to be good enough to carry him if his defense at such a key position is league average?
A couple of weeks ago, we wrote about how Wilson is actually projected to be the A's best overall player, according to FanGraphs, and a part of the reason for their high projection was because of his defense.
The numbers Wilson put up in the bigs last season are what they are, but with a full offseason to add some muscle and get ready for his first full season in the big leagues, it's likely that he has been working on any shortcomings he may have had in his debut.
While it may be too early to start worrying about his defense long-term, his glove will be something to keep an eye on as games begin in a couple of weeks.
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Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.