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Wilson named MLB All-Star starter
7/2/2025 4:15:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro
A's rookie shortstop becomes GCU's 1st MLB All-Star player
A week before the second anniversary of becoming Grand Canyon baseball's highest draft pick ever, Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson was named a MLB All-Star Game starter to become GCU's first All-Star player ever.
Wilson, 23, made more than GCU history Wednesday by winning the fan vote to land the American League's starting shortstop job for the July 15 MLB All-Star Game in Atlanta. He is making MLB history as the first rookie shortstop since 1960 to start the All-Star Game since Baltimore's Ron Hansen, the only other player to do it.
Starting his A's legacy, the A.L. Rookie of the Year favorite is the first all-star starting shortstop in franchise history since Bert Campaneris in 1974 and the only fan-selected A's All-Star player besides Josh Donaldson (2014) and Jason Giambi (2000).
Despite the A's having a 36-52 record and playing in West Sacramento, California, this season, Wilson earned the starting nod by beating Kansas City four-year veteran and former All-Star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. in Phase 2 of the voting. After receiving nearly 500,000 more votes than Witt in the all-inclusive Phase 1 voting, Wilson beat Witt more narrowly in a head-to-head, 48-hour contest with 52% of the vote. He also beat out World Series MVPs Corey Seager of Texas and Jeremy Peña of Houston.
"Being able to see myself there was super awesome for me," Wilson said on Buster Olney's ESPN Baseball Tonight podcast this week. "Knowing how many great shortstops we have in the A.L., (Jeremy) Pena, Witt, J.P. Crawford, Bo Bichette, all those guys I've played against. Playing against them has been awesome, being able to talk to them. It's a blessing to be in that spot, to be in the same conversation with those guys. I can't thank all the fans enough for the votes. I just love going out here every day and putting on the uniform with my teammates."
After being drafted sixth overall on July 9, 2023, Wilson raced through the minors by hitting .433 over three levels last year to make his MLB debut on July 19, 2024. A hamstring injury in his first game sidelined him five weeks, leaving him eligible for Rookie of the Year honors this season.
Wilson, whose father, Jack, was a 2004 All-Star second baseman with Seattle, leads MLB rookies in most major hitting categories, and his .339 batting average ranks second in the league only to New York Yankees star Aaron Judge. He also has MLB's third-lowest strikeout percentage at 7.6%, a trait that carried over from striking out 12 times in 492 plate appearances over the final two seasons of his three-year GCU career.
"I am incredibly proud of Jacob and all he's accomplished already in his MLB career," said Lopes head coach Gregg Wallis, who gave Wilson his first Division I scholarship offer and the program's earliest one ever when Wilson was a 5-foot-9 Thousand Oaks, California, high school freshman. "He is emerging into a superstar and a fan favorite across the league. It is amazing to watch, and he is an inspiration to our entire GCU baseball program and community."
While establishing himself as one of the game's best contact hitters, Wilson has shown more power this season with nine home runs, third most among rookies. That has helped boost his RBIs total to 40 before he missed the past two games with a hamstring injury.
Wilson is the greatest pro player in GCU history since Tim Salmon, who was a top-10 finisher in Most Valuable Player voting twice and hit 299 home runs during a standout 14-year career with the Angels, However, Salmon was never selected as an All-Star, leaving Wilson to make history for the program as the Lopes' 16th big-leaguer.
"He's an old-school type of player that we love to watch," ESPN analyst Xavier Scruggs said on the All-Star Starters Reveal show.
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Wilson, 23, made more than GCU history Wednesday by winning the fan vote to land the American League's starting shortstop job for the July 15 MLB All-Star Game in Atlanta. He is making MLB history as the first rookie shortstop since 1960 to start the All-Star Game since Baltimore's Ron Hansen, the only other player to do it.Starting his A's legacy, the A.L. Rookie of the Year favorite is the first all-star starting shortstop in franchise history since Bert Campaneris in 1974 and the only fan-selected A's All-Star player besides Josh Donaldson (2014) and Jason Giambi (2000).
Despite the A's having a 36-52 record and playing in West Sacramento, California, this season, Wilson earned the starting nod by beating Kansas City four-year veteran and former All-Star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. in Phase 2 of the voting. After receiving nearly 500,000 more votes than Witt in the all-inclusive Phase 1 voting, Wilson beat Witt more narrowly in a head-to-head, 48-hour contest with 52% of the vote. He also beat out World Series MVPs Corey Seager of Texas and Jeremy Peña of Houston.
"Being able to see myself there was super awesome for me," Wilson said on Buster Olney's ESPN Baseball Tonight podcast this week. "Knowing how many great shortstops we have in the A.L., (Jeremy) Pena, Witt, J.P. Crawford, Bo Bichette, all those guys I've played against. Playing against them has been awesome, being able to talk to them. It's a blessing to be in that spot, to be in the same conversation with those guys. I can't thank all the fans enough for the votes. I just love going out here every day and putting on the uniform with my teammates."
After being drafted sixth overall on July 9, 2023, Wilson raced through the minors by hitting .433 over three levels last year to make his MLB debut on July 19, 2024. A hamstring injury in his first game sidelined him five weeks, leaving him eligible for Rookie of the Year honors this season.Wilson, whose father, Jack, was a 2004 All-Star second baseman with Seattle, leads MLB rookies in most major hitting categories, and his .339 batting average ranks second in the league only to New York Yankees star Aaron Judge. He also has MLB's third-lowest strikeout percentage at 7.6%, a trait that carried over from striking out 12 times in 492 plate appearances over the final two seasons of his three-year GCU career.
"I am incredibly proud of Jacob and all he's accomplished already in his MLB career," said Lopes head coach Gregg Wallis, who gave Wilson his first Division I scholarship offer and the program's earliest one ever when Wilson was a 5-foot-9 Thousand Oaks, California, high school freshman. "He is emerging into a superstar and a fan favorite across the league. It is amazing to watch, and he is an inspiration to our entire GCU baseball program and community."
While establishing himself as one of the game's best contact hitters, Wilson has shown more power this season with nine home runs, third most among rookies. That has helped boost his RBIs total to 40 before he missed the past two games with a hamstring injury.
Wilson is the greatest pro player in GCU history since Tim Salmon, who was a top-10 finisher in Most Valuable Player voting twice and hit 299 home runs during a standout 14-year career with the Angels, However, Salmon was never selected as an All-Star, leaving Wilson to make history for the program as the Lopes' 16th big-leaguer.
"He's an old-school type of player that we love to watch," ESPN analyst Xavier Scruggs said on the All-Star Starters Reveal show.
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