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Wilson savors senior year of baseball bliss
5/22/2024 10:00:00 AM | Baseball, Paul Coro
Major leaguer's son took unique path from Taiwan to WAC Player of the Year for GCU
For the first nine years of Tyler Wilson's life in Taiwan, he did not know he would finish growing up in America.
For his baseball youth, Wilson did not know a shoulder injury would take playing catcher away from him.
For his Grand Canyon career, he did not know he would play a senior season because of a delay to his pro aspirations.
The unknowns turned out to be essential to his potential. Wilson became a U.S. citizen in September, a GCU graduate in April and the WAC Player of the Year in May.
Wilson's 200-game career penned him as a regular starter since his freshman year with .300-plus hitting each season. But in this season, Wilson has hit another performance level with a .383 batting average and 15 home runs after batting .311 with 11 home runs over his first three seasons combined.
The 6-foot-2, switch-hitting left fielder takes a 23-game hitting streak into the WAC Tournament, which the Lopes start at noon Thursday at Mesa's Hohokam Stadium.
"I'm treating it as if it's the last time I'm going to play this game," Wilson said of his locked-in senior focus. "Playing free and easy is the main thing for me this year. I'm not worrying about all the other stuff. I'm just focusing on having fun and winning games with my team."
Wilson has helped see to that each year by helping the Lopes capture four consecutive WAC regular-season championships since he came from Chandler Hamilton High School in 2020.
"I am so proud of Tyler and happy the league recognized him as WAC Player of the Year," GCU head coach Gregg Wallis said. "He has earned this recognition after putting together one of the best seasons on the field I've seen in my time at GCU. But the most special thing about Tyler is the stuff that doesn't show up in the box scores. He's a man of high character, loyalty, grit and perseverance. He's a shining example of doing things right on and off the field."
Wilson's origin story began in Kaohsiung, the southern Taiwan city where Wilson was born to a former Major League Baseball pitcher who had moved his baseball career there and later met his wife at a sports bar that he opened.
His father, Steve, was a six-year MLB veteran with a career 4.40 ERA on stops with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers and the 1989 National League East champion Chicago Cubs. After his final MLB season in 1993, Wilson moved to Taiwan to coach but a left-hander in his early 30s looked too good throwing batting practice and played two more seasons there.
Steve remained iin Taiwan to start a scouting career that he continues today as a New York Yankees international crosschecker and opened Willy's Bar and Grill, where he met his Taiwanese wife, Lydia, as a customer. Their sons, Tyler and Liam, were born in Taiwan, where the intensity of the education system does not allow much time for sports.
But Tyler was growing up with a love of baseball, even though he never played an organized game until they moved to Arizona when Tyler was entering fourth grade. Tyler had typical father-son tosses in front of the Wilson's Taiwan home and not-so-typical memories of watching games across Taiwan and at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.
"The atmosphere they had and the way they treat baseball is completely different," Tyler said. "It was a regular-season game, and it felt like the Super Bowl."
The Wilsons wanted their children to have a more balanced childhood than Tyler was experiencing. He learned in Mandarin by day at school, talked in Taiwanese in the neighborhood and went to English-language school at night.
Once in Arizona, baseball came quickly to Tyler. At 12, a left-handed swing was added instantaneously in the Wilson backyard. Now, the switch-hitter bats .418 against left-handed pitchers and .370 against right-handed pitchers.
"It was so natural," Steve said. "It was only a couple swings when I knew. There was no question that he could be a switch-hitter from the start."
Tyler was on his way to being a rare baseball commodity – a switch-hitting catcher with a strong arm and athleticism. GCU spotted it early and made Tyler an offer he accepted after his freshman season at Chandler Hamilton High School
But as a Hamilton sophomore, Tyler suffered a right shoulder subluxation diving back to a base. It required surgery to clean up the loose cartilage, and his arm strength never was the same.
"I loved catching," Tyler said. "That was my favorite thing to do in the field. I had a really good arm. After the surgery, it just went away. I forgot how to throw for almost a year. Losing my arm almost made me hate catching. I knew what I could've done and what I needed to do, but my body wouldn't let me."
Tyler lost his high school senior season to COVID cancellation and went months without playing baseball, but he still immediately thrived with .309 hitting as a GCU freshman. He used that smooth left-handed swing to deliver a game-winning single in the 2021 WAC Tournament championship.
A year later at the WAC Tournament, Tyler reinjured the shoulder on another dive to the base, just as he had resumed playing catcher that season with 24 starts behind the plate.
"How can I rewire myself to be a different type of player?" Tyler said he asked himself after the reinjury that did not require surgery. "It was getting faster or becoming more athletic. The main thing for me was always the bat. That was the main tool I had."
In his draft-eligible year, Wilson was limited to being a designated hitter to set up a senior year return.
The fall semester began with the culmination of a 10-year process for family citizenship. Earlier, the Wilson had a 39-day family stay in Montreal because of the procedural layers involved for Steve being born in Victoria, Canada, and the rest of the family being born in Taiwan.
Even sone of Tyler's teammates had no idea of his nationality until he missed a fall workout to take a citizenship test. Wilson graduated in Sports Management, but he can still speak with his mother and order at Great Wall Cuisine, a neighboring restaurant that floats dim sum aroma to the GCU Ballpark bullpen.
"Everything worked out for the best," Steve said. "He was able to get his degree, and we're so proud of him for that. He was able to get healthy. We really worked on his arm action to be effective in the outfield. We're proud of how hard he has worked, persevered through the ups and downs and put together a great season.
"GCU was perfect for him. You can't ask for a better college experience for your kid than being at Grand Canyon".
When Lopes seniors told him to appreciate every moment as a freshman, Tyler said he thought, "Whatever, man, I still got three years."
Now, here he is trying to convey the same message to freshman teammates who he calls "kids." Wallis often comments of how Tyler is investing "every ounce of his heart and soul" into the program.
"It's special because of the type of people I've met here," Tyler said. "They are just so down to earth. I've made friends for life with people on this team. I got lucky that things clicked into place for me. It turned out to be better than I expected it to be."
And with this senior season, Tyler is a draft prospect again as he ranks 43rd in the nation for batting average.
Steve the dad is nervously hopeful about the draft, but Steve the scout is confidently optimistic that Tyler will be selected in the 20-round July draft.
"I'd be totally shocked if he's not drafted," Steve said. "It would shock me to the core. It's hard to walk away from a guy who's always hit and is a switch-hitter and his power is starting to come. Instead of just scratching the surface and just seeing flashes of how good he can be, I think we're seeing it on a more consistent basis."
And as Tyler vies for an NCAA regional return, pursues a pro career and watches his brother, Liam, prepare to play baseball for Harvard, he thinks more about the unselfish efforts that his parents made to give them this balanced life that they relish. Wallis called the Wilsons "some of the best people you'll ever meet."
"My parents have always supported this dream of playing baseball to this day," Tyler said. "I know they've sacrificed so much for my brother and me, and I'm so grateful. I'm so proud of my brother, Liam. He's made me a better person, as much I hope I've helped him grow."
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For his baseball youth, Wilson did not know a shoulder injury would take playing catcher away from him.
For his Grand Canyon career, he did not know he would play a senior season because of a delay to his pro aspirations.
The unknowns turned out to be essential to his potential. Wilson became a U.S. citizen in September, a GCU graduate in April and the WAC Player of the Year in May.Wilson's 200-game career penned him as a regular starter since his freshman year with .300-plus hitting each season. But in this season, Wilson has hit another performance level with a .383 batting average and 15 home runs after batting .311 with 11 home runs over his first three seasons combined.
The 6-foot-2, switch-hitting left fielder takes a 23-game hitting streak into the WAC Tournament, which the Lopes start at noon Thursday at Mesa's Hohokam Stadium.
"I'm treating it as if it's the last time I'm going to play this game," Wilson said of his locked-in senior focus. "Playing free and easy is the main thing for me this year. I'm not worrying about all the other stuff. I'm just focusing on having fun and winning games with my team."
Wilson has helped see to that each year by helping the Lopes capture four consecutive WAC regular-season championships since he came from Chandler Hamilton High School in 2020.
"I am so proud of Tyler and happy the league recognized him as WAC Player of the Year," GCU head coach Gregg Wallis said. "He has earned this recognition after putting together one of the best seasons on the field I've seen in my time at GCU. But the most special thing about Tyler is the stuff that doesn't show up in the box scores. He's a man of high character, loyalty, grit and perseverance. He's a shining example of doing things right on and off the field."
Wilson's origin story began in Kaohsiung, the southern Taiwan city where Wilson was born to a former Major League Baseball pitcher who had moved his baseball career there and later met his wife at a sports bar that he opened.His father, Steve, was a six-year MLB veteran with a career 4.40 ERA on stops with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers and the 1989 National League East champion Chicago Cubs. After his final MLB season in 1993, Wilson moved to Taiwan to coach but a left-hander in his early 30s looked too good throwing batting practice and played two more seasons there.
Steve remained iin Taiwan to start a scouting career that he continues today as a New York Yankees international crosschecker and opened Willy's Bar and Grill, where he met his Taiwanese wife, Lydia, as a customer. Their sons, Tyler and Liam, were born in Taiwan, where the intensity of the education system does not allow much time for sports.
But Tyler was growing up with a love of baseball, even though he never played an organized game until they moved to Arizona when Tyler was entering fourth grade. Tyler had typical father-son tosses in front of the Wilson's Taiwan home and not-so-typical memories of watching games across Taiwan and at the Tokyo Dome in Japan."The atmosphere they had and the way they treat baseball is completely different," Tyler said. "It was a regular-season game, and it felt like the Super Bowl."
The Wilsons wanted their children to have a more balanced childhood than Tyler was experiencing. He learned in Mandarin by day at school, talked in Taiwanese in the neighborhood and went to English-language school at night.
Once in Arizona, baseball came quickly to Tyler. At 12, a left-handed swing was added instantaneously in the Wilson backyard. Now, the switch-hitter bats .418 against left-handed pitchers and .370 against right-handed pitchers."It was so natural," Steve said. "It was only a couple swings when I knew. There was no question that he could be a switch-hitter from the start."
Tyler was on his way to being a rare baseball commodity – a switch-hitting catcher with a strong arm and athleticism. GCU spotted it early and made Tyler an offer he accepted after his freshman season at Chandler Hamilton High School
But as a Hamilton sophomore, Tyler suffered a right shoulder subluxation diving back to a base. It required surgery to clean up the loose cartilage, and his arm strength never was the same.
"I loved catching," Tyler said. "That was my favorite thing to do in the field. I had a really good arm. After the surgery, it just went away. I forgot how to throw for almost a year. Losing my arm almost made me hate catching. I knew what I could've done and what I needed to do, but my body wouldn't let me."
Tyler lost his high school senior season to COVID cancellation and went months without playing baseball, but he still immediately thrived with .309 hitting as a GCU freshman. He used that smooth left-handed swing to deliver a game-winning single in the 2021 WAC Tournament championship.A year later at the WAC Tournament, Tyler reinjured the shoulder on another dive to the base, just as he had resumed playing catcher that season with 24 starts behind the plate.
"How can I rewire myself to be a different type of player?" Tyler said he asked himself after the reinjury that did not require surgery. "It was getting faster or becoming more athletic. The main thing for me was always the bat. That was the main tool I had."
In his draft-eligible year, Wilson was limited to being a designated hitter to set up a senior year return.
The fall semester began with the culmination of a 10-year process for family citizenship. Earlier, the Wilson had a 39-day family stay in Montreal because of the procedural layers involved for Steve being born in Victoria, Canada, and the rest of the family being born in Taiwan.
Even sone of Tyler's teammates had no idea of his nationality until he missed a fall workout to take a citizenship test. Wilson graduated in Sports Management, but he can still speak with his mother and order at Great Wall Cuisine, a neighboring restaurant that floats dim sum aroma to the GCU Ballpark bullpen."Everything worked out for the best," Steve said. "He was able to get his degree, and we're so proud of him for that. He was able to get healthy. We really worked on his arm action to be effective in the outfield. We're proud of how hard he has worked, persevered through the ups and downs and put together a great season.
"GCU was perfect for him. You can't ask for a better college experience for your kid than being at Grand Canyon".
When Lopes seniors told him to appreciate every moment as a freshman, Tyler said he thought, "Whatever, man, I still got three years."
Now, here he is trying to convey the same message to freshman teammates who he calls "kids." Wallis often comments of how Tyler is investing "every ounce of his heart and soul" into the program.
"It's special because of the type of people I've met here," Tyler said. "They are just so down to earth. I've made friends for life with people on this team. I got lucky that things clicked into place for me. It turned out to be better than I expected it to be."
And with this senior season, Tyler is a draft prospect again as he ranks 43rd in the nation for batting average.Steve the dad is nervously hopeful about the draft, but Steve the scout is confidently optimistic that Tyler will be selected in the 20-round July draft.
"I'd be totally shocked if he's not drafted," Steve said. "It would shock me to the core. It's hard to walk away from a guy who's always hit and is a switch-hitter and his power is starting to come. Instead of just scratching the surface and just seeing flashes of how good he can be, I think we're seeing it on a more consistent basis."
And as Tyler vies for an NCAA regional return, pursues a pro career and watches his brother, Liam, prepare to play baseball for Harvard, he thinks more about the unselfish efforts that his parents made to give them this balanced life that they relish. Wallis called the Wilsons "some of the best people you'll ever meet."
"My parents have always supported this dream of playing baseball to this day," Tyler said. "I know they've sacrificed so much for my brother and me, and I'm so grateful. I'm so proud of my brother, Liam. He's made me a better person, as much I hope I've helped him grow."
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