A's to promote top infield prospect

The Athletics are calling up top infield prospect Jacob Wilson, reports Martín Gallegos of MLB.com (X link). Last year’s sixth overall pick has posted incredible numbers through his first full professional season. Oakland has two vacancies on the 40-man roster and optioned Armando Alvarez on Wednesday to create an active roster spot. No corresponding move is required.

Wilson is the fifth player from the 2023 first round to reach the big leagues. The Angels pushed Nolan Schanuel there last summer, while Wyatt Langford, Paul Skenes and Hurston Waldrep have made their debuts this season. Wilson only needed 72 minor league games to convince the A’s that he is prepared for a look at MLB arms.

The A’s selected the righty-hitting Wilson — the son of former All-Star Jack Wilson — after a standout college career at Grand Canyon University. Wilson hit .412 with 19 walks and a laughable total of five strikeouts over 49 games during his junior season. While he certainly wasn’t facing the caliber of pitching that players like Langford and Dylan Crews saw in the SEC, scouts have never doubted that his contact skills would translate.

Whether Wilson would make enough hard contact to be an impact hitter was more debatable. How well the profile will translate against MLB pitching remains to be seen, but he hasn’t had any problem hitting for power in the minors. Wilson tore through Double-A pitching, connecting on 13 doubles and a trio of homers in 22 games. He hit .455/.473/.705 over 93 plate appearances to earn a bump to Triple-A Las Vegas in May. An injured list stint briefly held him back, but he has continued to rake since returning in June.

Over 19 Triple-A contests, Wilson hit .398/.444/.639 with seven walks and only three strikeouts. He popped another four homers and eight doubles. Between the top two minor league levels and a brief rehab stint in rookie ball, he owns an eye-popping .438/.475/.687 batting line in 200 plate appearances this season.

The A’s have used Wilson exclusively at shortstop. There’s little reason for a rebuilding Oakland team not to give him a shot to stick there. The A’s have been running with 27-year-old rookie Max Schuemann at the position for the last two weeks. Schuemann has a league average .245/.339/.347 slash line. That’s decent production, but the former 20th-round draftee isn’t going to stand in Wilson’s way. The A’s could kick Schuemann over to third base while Abraham Toro is on the injured list, cutting into the playing time for Brett Harris in the process.

Wilson’s massive numbers vaulted him up to No. 19 on Baseball America’s most recent ranking of the sport’s Top 100 prospects. He opened the season in the No. 76 spot. MLB Pipeline ranked him 68th before Opening Day and has nudged him up to No. 50 at this point. Wilson meets the prospect criteria to potentially earn a full service year if he manages to finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year balloting, though that’ll be a tough task with less than half the season to play. The A’s would not receive a bonus pick if Wilson were to win Rookie of the Year since they didn’t call him up in time to accrue a full year of service in the traditional manner — spending 172 days on the MLB roster.

Barring a top-two Rookie of the Year finish, Wilson will be under team control for six seasons beyond this one. He’s not likely to qualify for arbitration until the 2027-28 offseason. A future assignment back to the minor leagues could delay that trajectory.