A's make Wilson GCU's highest draft pick

SEATTLE — Decades of developing a baseball skillset. Years of refining it at the collegiate level. Months of draft speculation. Hours of building suspense.

Grand Canyon superstar shortstop Jacob Wilson became the highest drafted player in program history when he was selected by the Oakland Athletics with the sixth overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft.

Attending the draft in person at Lumen Field, Wilson was able to soak in the moment and enjoy becoming GCU's first ever first-round selection.

"It's a dream come true for sure," Wilson said. "This is a moment I've been waiting for for a long time now. I'm super excited to hear my name called. I'm super thankful for my family and friends who supported me throughout this entire process.

"It's been awesome. The journey's been crazy. Got three good years at Grand Canyon University. I had a bunch of great mentors I got to lean on and learn from a bunch of different people."

It's the next step of a meteoric rise for Wilson. He committed to GCU on the first day of classes in his sophomore year in 2017. He won a starting role as a Lopes freshman in 2021, helping lead GCU to its first NCAA tournament. He took over as the everyday shortstop as a sophomore. He solidified himself as a college baseball star with heroics for USA Baseball's Collegiate National Team last summer. He was a consensus All-American as a junior.

draft board

Wilson had the eyes of 30 MLB clubs on him for the better part of his college career, and all he did was continually perform.

"Congratulations to Jacob on this historic selection," Lopes head coach Gregg Wallis said. "Jacob will forever hold a special place in my heart, and I'm extremely proud of him. I can't wait to watch him play in the Big Leagues some day soon."

Wilson leaves GCU as a consensus All-American, three-time first-team All-WAC performer, two-time Golden Spikes semifinalist, three-time WAC regular-season champion, and the stat everyone likes to point to: 31 career strikeouts in 620 career at bats including back-to-back seasons as the most difficult player to strike out in the nation.

The Thousand Oaks, California, native had an impressive sophomore campaign in 2022. He hit .358, was a first-team All-WAC pick at shortstop, led the nation in fewest strikeouts and helped GCU reach the NCAA tournament as an at-large bid.

Many wondered what the follow-up act would look like in 2023. It only got more impressive.

Wilson's draft-eligible junior campaign was filled with All-America predictions, prospect rankings, media engagements, scout interviews and front-office phone calls. With that as a backdrop, Wilson opened the year with a bang by tripling in back-to-back nationally televised games including one RBI triple off touted Tennessee prospect Chase Burns in a GCU victory.

manfred wilson

That set the tone for a 2023 season where the expectations continually raised for Wilson and he routinely exceeded them.

Wilson hit .411 (79 for 192) which checked in as the nation's 10th-best batting average and the best mark in GCU's Division I history. He slugged .635 with 27 extra-base hits. He struck out just five times in 192 at bats (once per 38.4 at bats). His fifth and final strikeout of the season came on March 31, meaning he did not strike out in his final 97 at bats of the season.

Wilson set numerous program milestones along the way including grabbing GCU's D-I career records in hits (224) and RBIs (155) in only three seasons. Adding to his legendary Lope status, milestones always seemed to come in key moments. His 200th career hit was a go-ahead grand slam. He broke the career hits record on another go-ahead home run.

GCU has a lengthy history with the MLB Draft with 103 all-time selections preceding Wilson. But a Lope had not been picked higher than 30th overall, where Kevin Wickander was selected in 1986 to begin a six-year big league career with 150 appearances on the mound.

Oakland's affiliates are the Arizona Complex League Athletics (Rookie) at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, the Stockton Ports (Single-A), the Lansing Lugnuts (High-A), the Midland RockHounds (Double-A) and the Las Vegas Aviators (Triple-A).

𝗝𝗔𝗖𝗢𝗕 𝗪𝗜𝗟𝗦𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 @Athletics!

The highest draft pick in program history goes 6th overall to Oakland. 👏#LopesInThePros pic.twitter.com/lUJ7Sm2uKx
— Grand Canyon Baseball (@GCU_Baseball) July 9, 2023

Grand Canyon University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Jacob Wilson

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