Wilson carries GCU banner well as MLB star

Photo by: Ali Overstreet/A's

9/30/2025 2:00:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

Former Lopes great reflects on amazing rookie season, college career

By: Paul Coro

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Jacob Wilson debuted in Major League Baseball 14 months ago, which was 14 months after his final game for Grand Canyon.

Wilson’ arrival as bona fide baseball star has come just as swiftly, ending his first full season Sunday with a summer of accolades that runs deeper than most pros’ career lists.

MLB All-Star Game starter. American League Rookie of the Year contender. A .311 batting average only topped in MLB by two-time MVP Aaron Judge,.

The zeal Wilson received for three eye-popping GCU seasons is burgeoning worldwide. The throwback pure hitter received 1.8 million votes in All-Star Game Phase 1 voting and his “Wilson 5” jerseys dot Sutter Health Park, where a devoted fan who awaits the gate's opening wears a “We Love Jacob Wilson” T-shirt with his image.

“I still remember that last out in my last at bat for GCU at Hohokam Stadium and the memories that came along with it,” Wilson said from the temporary A’s home’s warning track while their Las Vegas stadium is constructed. “Obviously, there were a lot of tears at that last game, knowing that was the last time I put on the uniform. It's crazy to think how much time has gone by from then to now. I'm just super grateful and thankful for all the times that I had there. That was the starting base for me to really becoming the athlete that I am today.”

I'm just super grateful and thankful for all the times that I had there. That was the starting base for me to really becoming the athlete that I am today.”

A's shortstop Jacob Wilson on GCU

He became an athlete who has turned heads in MLB with comparisons to Tony Gwynn first-year numbers and curiosities over how his fidgety, twitchy batting approach created elite bat-to-ball skills at age 23.

Since being GCU’s highest MLB Draft pick ever at No. 6 in 2023, Wilson zoomed through the minors with .433 hitting before a July 2024 call-up that rolled over his rookie year to 2025 because he pulled a hamstring after singling in his first MLB at bat.

The hand-eye coordination and barrel-to-ball ability that helped Wilson lead GCU to three conference championships proved sustainable at baseball's highest level. Without taking a walk (or having a three-ball count) until his 22nd game this season, Wilson puts bat to ball up the middle in a league overwhelmed with talk of launch angle and exit velocity.

Wilson struck out once in his final 174 plate appearances as a Lope and maintained that disdain for not putting the ball in play as a big-leaguer.

With zone control against any pitch that fascinates his peers, Wilson struck out 7.5% of his plate appearances this season to claim the second-lowest MLB clip to the San Diego Padres’ Luis Arraez. Four MLB players struck out at least 32%, including three-time MVP Mike Trout.

New York Yankees All-Star pitcher Carlos Rodon told USA Today, “It's not fair. What do I do with a guy like this?" after he followed scouting reports with fastballs up and in to Wilson, who smacked a double off him.

“Jacob’s got an elite skill, which is his bat to ball,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said. “The hitting side is generally the most challenging side of the game. For him coming from a background of baseball and watching his dad (Jack) go through the preparation for what it takes to play at this level, it also gave him a head start. He’s a very confident kid. It’s quiet because he’s got a lot of humility, but you need the confidence as well. There’s a combination of three skill sets that separate him from most to give him this opportunity to really perform at a high level.”

There’s a combination of three skill sets that separate him from most to give him this opportunity to really perform at a high level.

A's manager Mark Kotsay

In Wilson’s 40th game, the shortstop homered twice in a 4-for-5 game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. That put his batting average at an eye-popping .363 in an era when only six other players hit at least .300 this season. Wilson came back from a midseason forearm fracture to catch Judge in the batting title race on Sept. 10 at .319 apiece before Judge ended the season on a tear.

With his slick fielding, Wilson was a runaway AL Rookie of the Year favorite until the explosion of A's teammate Nick Kurtz, who Wilson honors by wearing “The Big Amish” T-shirt for Kurtz’s moniker.

Having a season that matches his “Summer Love” walk-up song, Wilson became the first All-Star starting rookie shortstop since 1960. For the A’s, he was the first starting All-Star shortstop since Bert Campaneris in 1974 and the youngest All-Star starter since Vida Blue in 1971. No rookie shortstop had been ever voted to start by fans in All-Star Game history.

“That entire week was crazy, and I enjoyed every bit of it,” Wilson said of All-Star festivities in Atlanta.

“The All-Star Game was the most important (achievement) to me. Being able to be named a starter by fans versus all the other great shortstops we have in this league, that is something that I'll definitely take pride in for the rest of my career. Not a lot of words can describe it. It was just something that meant so much to me.”

Scott McGough, a 35-year-old pitcher, became a recent fan and A’s clubhouse neighbor of Wilson but with a longtime connection.

The Pittsburgh-area native grew up watching Jacob’s father, Jack, become an All-Star and play nine seasons for the Pirates, who used the A’s Sept. 19 visit to re-enact a first pitch that 4-year-old Jacob threw to Jack in 2006.

“Jacob’s an unbelievable talent,” McGough said. “I looked up to his dad a lot, and he reminds me a lot of him. Just a great worker, a grinder. He never gives up on an at bat. He always finds a hole. He hits it anywhere on the field, which is an incredible skill to have. He’s just a special talent.

“I see the maturity at a young age, which is an impressive skill. He’s everything you want in a good, young player.”

He’s just a special talent. I see the maturity at a young age, which is an impressive skill. He’s everything you want in a good, young player.

A's pitcher Scott McGough

In the first 578 at bats of Gwynn’s Hall of Fame career as a 15-time All-Star, he hit .320 with 29 doubles, three home runs and 63 RBIs.

In Wilson’s first 578 at bats, he is hitting .301 with 28 doubles, 13 home runs and 66 RBIs. At 23, Wilson made his All-Star debut a year earlier than Gwynn did.

“I watched Jacob’s debut from the dugout, and you could tell that he had a presence in the box,” said A’s outfielder Tyler Soderstrom, a fellow 23-year-old A’s first-round pick. “The confidence that he has up there is pretty special. You can tell when a guy comes up and impacts the game right away.”

Baseball pundits marvel at his unique approach, which fires his batting box activity to build into a rhythm that meets the pitch. His disdain for striking out was built in backyard stickball with his father, but GCU magnified his diligent two-strike approach.

The Lopes made Wilson’s only scholarship offer at the time that he committed. The move proved mutually beneficial, as the storied GCU program that raised Tim Salmon grew in stature with Wilson playing on its first two NCAA Division I regional qualifiers.

Wilson said he adapted a stringent two-strike approach as a GCU freshman because it was necessary. He was facing a repertoire of pitches and velocities that he had not faced in high school.

“Being able to learn how to build a two- strike approach, trying not to strike out, putting the ball in play, is kind of what GCU was about,” Wilson said. “They didn't want you to give up an at bat. They wanted you to put the ball in play, find a way to get on base for your team, just because that's what GCU was about -- playing team baseball. That definitely helped me build the two-strike approach that I have today, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the coaches that I had at GCU who helped me install that my freshman year.”

Being able to learn how to build a two- strike approach, trying not to strike out, putting the ball in play, is kind of what GCU was about.

A's shortstop Jacob Wilson

Wilson went from hitting .313 as a freshman to .358 as a sophomore to .411 as a junior, but his favorite GCU memory rewind goes back to his freshman season and a WAC Tournament championship dogpile at Hohokam Stadium, now his spring training home.

The Valley is becoming home to Wilson, who is getting married Dec. 18 to former Arizona softball infielder Logan Cole and moving into a house that gives him a short offseason commute to work out at the A’s spring training facility.

The grind continues for Wilson, whose strengthened frame popped in 13 home runs this year after having none in 103 MLB plate appearances in 2024.

Wilson balanced that with the fourth-highest ratio of ground outs to air outs (1.49 to 1) in the majors.

His two-year professional progression has mirrored his college life.

“They’re very, very similar,” Wilson said. “High A for me was like a freshman year where you're just starting to learn what professional baseball's like and how you need to go about your days and get ready for games. In college, every year is different. Getting into pro ball, your freshman year is like minor league baseball. This was kind of my sophomore year, where it's the first year of the big leagues. Next year, you know what to expect, how the season is, how to take care of your body, how to get ready before games, and being able to continue your routine and start to make those adjustments that you need to make every year.”

This was kind of my sophomore year, where it's the first year of the big leagues.

A's shortstop Jacob Wilson

Because of his shortened 2024 call-up, Wilson remained a rookie this year. That meant dressing up as a charcuterie board for a gameday arrival this month, even though the veterans had him dressing as a jockey last year.

The demands of success also come off the field. Stacks of fan mail for “J-Willy” land in his locker, where an A’s baseball card of his fiancée is attached to his nameplate and his father's bobblehead sits on a shelf. Media is drawn to his story and insight, so much so that the local beat writers gave Wilson the annual “Good Guy Award” for media cooperation.

But even after three walk-off hits to win A's games and nightly battles with childhood heroes, Wilson still is an avid Fortnite and Rocket League gamer and harkens back wistfully to sharing a campus apartment with teammates, making food runs, hitting the GCU Ballpark batting cages and attending Lopes basketball games.

“I still talk to a good amount of the guys from GCU,” Wilson said. “I just loved every bit of it. The times I had there, they were awesome. I loved all the teammates and coaches that I had, and I'm super grateful for everybody that was along that ride and the process that got me here to where I am at today.

“Those 6 a.m. weights at the time were awful, but you got to do it together with the team. It's pretty cool to look back on those most memories and know that I got to make friendships that I'll have for the rest of my life.”

Wilson was the Lopes’ first All-Star player, but he and Minnesota Twins pitcher Pierson Ohl are the 16th and 17th MLB players from GCU. And not the last.

But until No. 18 goes from GCU to MLB, Wilson will proudly carry the Lopes banner. He will never be too big-league for GCU.

“It's super important to me just because that's my roots,” Wilson said. “I didn't have the opportunity to get drafted out of high school. At the time in high school, I was talented, but I wasn't good enough to go to these bigtime schools. GCU took a chance on me, and that's something that I will be forever grateful for because, without them, I wouldn’t have been able to live out my college dream. They took a chance on a kid out of SoCal. I’m trying to make them proud with everything I do. I go out here and try to play this game that they taught me.”