JACK WILSON

12/29/77; '98 9th (St. Louis); Oxnard (CA) JC
R/R; 6-0, 190

Level
BA
OBP
SA
AB
2B
3B
HR
BB
K
SB
CS
1998 R (StL)
.373
.424
.531
241
18
4
4
18
30
22
6
1999 A+ (StL)
.296
.345
.366
257
10
1
2
19
31
7
4
1999 A (StL)
.343
.384
.498
251
22
4
3
15
23
11
5
2000 AA (StL)
.294
.368
.452
343
20
8
6
36
59
2
3
2000 AA
.252
.325
.353
139
7
2
1
14
17
1
3
2000 A+ (StL)
.277
.340
.447
47
0
1
2
5
10
2
1
2001 NL
.223
.255
.295
390
17
1
3
16
70
1
3
2001 AAA
.369
.430
.476
103
6
1
1
9
13
2
2
2002 NL
.252
.306
.332
527
22
4
4
37
74
5
2
2003 NL
.256
.303
.353
558
21
3
9
36
74
5
5
2004 NL
.308
.335
.459
652
41
12
11
26
71
8
4
2005 NL
.257
.299
.363
587
24
7
8
31
58
7
3
2006 NL
.273
.316
.370
543
27
1
8
33
65
4
3
2007 NL
.296
.350
.440
477
29
2
12
38
46
2
5

After an All-Star season in 2004, in which he was arguably the best overall SS in the NL, Wilson seemingly had settled in as a weak-hitting, glove-oriented SS, only to rebound with a strong season in 2007.  After being prematurely handed the SS job in 2001, he struggled for three years as possibly the weakest-hitting regular in MLB.  In 2004, he suddenly seemed to catch on.  He had a great first half, earning a spot on the All-Star team as a reserve, although he deserved to be the starter.  He went into the break hitting 332/354/501.  He slumped in July and August, although it was indicative of his improvement that he still slugged over .400 in both months.  He rebounded to hit 326/371/461 in September.  Wilson's breakout seemed at least somewhat realistic, as he'd been a very good hitter in the minors.  One explanation for his sudden emergence was that he simply gained confidence.  Another, possibly related, one was the departure of most of the team's veterans.  Numerous stories in 2004 reported a dramatic improvement in the atmosphere in the Pirates' locker room, as many of the team's veterans supposedly were quite hostile to young players in general and Wilson in particular.  In fact, his improvement actually began in August 2003, immediately after the departures of Mike Williams and Brian Giles.

In the off-season after his 2004 breakout, the Pirates avoided arbitration by signing Wilson to a two-year deal worth $8M.  In December, he had an emergency appendectomy; in fact, his appendix burst while he was waiting an excessive length of time in the emergency room.  Claiming he was weak from the appendix problem, Wilson got off to a horrid start, hitting 163/193/200 in April.  In keeping with the Pirates' practice, while Dave Littlefield was GM, of understating players' health problems, Lloyd McClendon maintained that Wilson was just making excuses.  That bordered on slander.  The recovery time for a burst appendix is extensive and it takes much longer for an individual to get his full strength back.  Wilson rebounded after April, but still didn't hit very well and was at 237/281/347 at the end of August.  He got hot in September, boosting his final #s by hitting 350/387/437.

In 2006, Wilson hit pretty much what he did in 2005 after April.  He bulked up in the off-season in order to improve his late-season stamina.  It appeared at first to have given him substantially more power, as he had five HRs and 14 RBIs in April, and slugged .562.  This was an illusion, though, as he managed only three HRs and 21 RBIs the rest of the season.  The real explanation is probably found in his walk rate.  He drew one for every 11 ABs in April, but only one for every 18 ABs the rest of the year.  The Pirates bugged Wilson for years—or at least McClendon did so—about taking more pitches, but other than brief spells like that one month, he didn't seem to be listening.  The result was that, of 21 shortstops who qualified for the batting title in 2006, Wilson ranked 17th in OPS.  The team's insistence on batting Wilson 2nd has also been harmful.  He's exceptionally good at bunting for a hit, but the Pirates ranked 28th in both OPS and OBP from the #2 spot in 2006.

In 2007, Wilson seemed to be heading for another weak offensive season.  After a miserable July he was hitting 252/303/342.  Jim Tracy had even benched him at times, and in mid-July the Pirates acquired Cesar Izturis.  That fueled speculation that he'd be traded by the deadline, and ultimately a deal with Detroit was rumored to be very close.  Maybe the rumors provided some motivation, because Wilson hit 362/444/580 in August and 460/493/825 in September to finish with numbers that were marginally better than his 2004 season.  The latter month included one stretch in which he went 14-for-20.  The most obvious explanation is his plate discipline, as his K/BB ratio has gone from a little better than 3/1 in 2004 to not much below 1/1.

Wilson's real calling-card is his defensive play.  He has a penchant for highlight-reel plays that gained him a better reputation in his early years than he may have deserved.  Statistically he was probably no better than average his first 2-3 years. In 2004, however, he finished 3rd in the NL in zone rating and was the primary reason the Pirates easily led MLB in DPs.  Wilson also broke Gene Alley's team record for DPs in a season by a SS.  Many of the other defensive metrics that seem to pop up all over the internet also showed Wilson to be an outstanding SS, possibly deserving of the Gold Glove.  In 2005 he was even better.  The temporary emergence of Jose Castillo at 2B helped gain him more attention, as the two combined on several plays that were repeated extensively on highlight programs.  Unfortunately, Wilson's defense, like Castillo's, dropped off badly in 2006.  His fielding percentage dropped ten points, his zone rating 47 points, and his frequency of turning double plays by over 15%.  Baseball Prospectus' defensive measure shows him going from far above average in 2004-05 to a little above.  Wilson himself attributed the loss of range to his bulking up, which seems likely.  He originally stated that he would come in for 2007 at his pre-2006 weight, but he only lost part of it.  His defense rebounded close to his previous levels, helping the Pirates lead the majors in DPs by ten.  Of course, one reason for this is that their pitchers allowed a lot of baserunners.

The Pirates signed Wilson at the beginning of 2006 to a three-year contract extension with a guaranteed value a little over $20M.  There's also a team option for a fourth year at $8.4M, leaving Wilson locked up through 2009.  Some Pirate fans decry Wilson's contract as wasteful, which it may be.  With extreme groundball pitchers like Zach Duke and Paul Maholm, however, the team badly needs an above-average SS, rather than somebody like Freddy Sanchez, who'd be below average at SS.  Of course, if Wilson continues to hit like he did in 2007, he'll be a bargain, but that's probably not realistic.  As of the end of the season, it was unclear whether new management would seek to trade Wilson.  If the alternative is Izturies, a trade wouldn't help anything, as Wilson is easily the better of the two whether he hits the way he did in 2007 or not, and the money savings would be limited.

Return to Shortstops