The Athletics have quietly been one of the better stories in baseball this season. Despite not having a major league stadium to play in as the team is in the midst of a relocation, the Athletics have quietly built a sustainable young core in the big leagues. Players like Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler are being relied on heavily this season. Tyler Soderstrom and Shea Langeliers have been heavily involved in the offense as well.
The pitching staff doesn't have the young talent that the starting lineup has, but it's still been solid. The bullpen features one of the best young closers in baseball, Mason Miller.
Despite all this, I haven't even spoken of the team's most valuable player to this point: rookie shortstop Jacob Wilson.
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Jacob Wilson has been a star for the Athletics and he's not slowing down
Wilson burst on the scene last season when he began dominating minor league pitching. He slashed .333/.391/.475 during his first season of affiliated ball in 2023. It was a good slash line, but it wasn't anything to warrant a fast track to the big leagues. That quickly changed in 2024.
During the 2024 campaign, Wilson slashed .433/.473/.668 across three levels of minor league baseball before he ended up in the big leagues. Injuries derailed any sort of consistent playing time at the big league level last season, but Wilson came to spring training looking to pick up where he left off.
So far on the season, Wilson has been one of the better hitters in baseball. This isn't saying he's been one of the best rookies in baseball. The Athletics shortstop has been one of the better hitters in baseball, period.
The young star is slashing .341/.381/.478 with 10 walks and 10 strikeouts. His 5.1 percent strikeout rate is absolutely unheard of in this era of baseball. Despite being a pure contact hitter, Wilson has still recorded 15 extra base hits this season.
He's also a solid defender at shortstop. Wilson isn't Bobby Witt Jr. at shortstop, but he's a respectable defender with slightly above average traits.
The Athletics have a solid young core with a potential star to build around. It'll be fun to see how high of an average Wilson can post for a full season.