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Jacob Wilson

Astros Outright Jacob Wilson

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The Astros have passed utilityman Jacob Wilson through outright waivers, relays Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. Houston needed to create a 40-man roster spot to activate Zack Greinke from the COVID-19 injured list, which they’re expected to do tomorrow.

Wilson joined the Astros on a waiver claim from the division rival A’s last month. He’s played in six big league games and has logged ten games with their top affiliate in Sugar Land. A longtime minor league veteran, Wilson made his big league debut with Oakland in July but has only picked up 21 plate appearances between the two stops. He’s spent the bulk of the year in Triple-A, where he’s hit .274/.365/.570 with fifteen home runs in 223 plate appearances.

Most of that production has come with the A’s highest affiliate in Las Vegas, one of the more hitter-friendly environments in affiliated ball. That’s no doubt aided Wilson’s production somewhat, but he’s generally been a quality offensive player regardless of the surroundings. The right-handed hitter has posted solid numbers throughout much of his minor league tenure, and he also hit .251/.351/.433 over 268 plate appearances with the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization in 2019. He’s also shown some amount of defensive flexibility, logging action at each of first, second and third base and in left field this year.

Wilson has never previously been outrighted, and he doesn’t have the requisite service time to elect free agency. He’ll stick around with Sugar Land and hope to play his way back onto the big league roster before the end of the season. If the Astros don’t reselect him to the majors, the 31-year-old will qualify for minor league free agency this offseason.

Astros Claim Jacob Wilson Off Waivers From A’s

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The Astros are claiming utilityman Jacob Wilson off waivers from the Athletics, according to announcements from both teams. Oakland had designated Wilson for assignment over the weekend. Righty Tyler Ivey is being transferred to the 60-day injured list to create 40-man roster space, relays Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).

Wilson, 31, is a former Cardinals draftee who bounced between a few organizations without getting a major league shot before signing with the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization in 2019. The right-handed hitter performed well in South Korea before returning stateside, inking a minor league deal with the A’s over the offseason. He mashed at a .288/.385/.630 clip over 218 plate appearances with Triple-A Las Vegas (albeit in a hitter’s paradise) to earn his first big league call last month.

The A’s gave Wilson just seven plate appearances over six games (in which he picked up his first big league hit) before designating him upon acquiring Josh Harrison and Yan Gomes in a deadline deal with the Nationals. Clearly, the Astros were sufficiently intrigued by his minor league performance to give him another shot on a 40-man roster. Wilson saw action at each of second base, third base and in left field this season, and he still has all three minor league option years remaining. If Wilson sticks on the 40-man, he can serve as a bat-first mutli-position option to keep in the high minors.

Ivey suffered an elbow issue that he acknowledged in June was likely to end his season. He had been on the minor league injured list, but the Astros need to place him on the major league 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot. Doing so will entitle Ivey to big league pay and service time for as long as he remains on the 60-day IL (presumably the remainder of the season).

A’s Place James Kaprielian On 10-Day Injured List, Designate Domingo Acevedo, Jacob Wilson For Assignment

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The A’s made a number of roster moves today to make room for the additions of recently acquired Yan Gomes and Josh Harrison. Aramis Garcia was optioned to Triple-A, and James Kaprielian was placed on the 10-day injured list with a shoulder impingement. To make room on the 40-man roster, Domingo Acevedo and Jacob Wilson were designated for assignment, per Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter links).

Kaprielian was supposed to start tomorrow’s ballgame. Daulton Jefferies will get the call-up to take his place, so another roster move will need to be made at that point, tweets Kawahara. Jefferies made his debut in a two-inning outing last season but has spent the entirety of 2021 at Triple-A thus far. He’s made 12 starts with a 5.19 ERA spanning 59 innings.

Kaprielian, meanwhile, came up and seized a rotation spot this season. He’s marked a 3.24 ERA/4.15 FIP across 72 1/3 innings with a 26.5 percent strikeout rate and 9.1 percent walk rate. The Athletics don’t expect the shoulder issue to be significant, so the hope is that he’ll be able to return to the rotation before long.

Acevedo and Wilson will now be exposed to waivers. Acevedo, 27, made three appearances with the big league club, while Wilson was just 1-for-7 in limited playing time.

More significantly, perhaps, is Garcia’s demotion, as he’s likely to remain in Triple-A for some time as Gomes takes over the backup role to Sean Murphy. Garcia came over from Texas as part of the Elvis Andrus/Khris Davis deal that also saw Oakland swap out Jonah Heim. Garcia was intended to serve as a stopgap backup, but he hit just .205/.239/.318 in 94 plate appearances.

A’s Select Jacob Wilson, Place Chad Pinder On IL

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The Athletics announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of infielder Jacob Wilson from Triple-A Las Vegas and placed Chad Pinder on the 10-day injured list due to a hamstring strain. A’s skipper Bob Melvin tells reporters that Pinder’s injury is going to sideline him “awhile,” noting that the strain is in the middle of the hamstring muscle and that such injuries are “probably at least a month” (Twitter link via Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle).

Wilson, 30, will be making his MLB debut nine years after being selected by the Cardinals in the 10th round of the 2012 draft. He’s since bounced to the Nationals for a few seasons and also spent a year with the Korea Baseball Organization’s Lotte Giants. After inking a minor league deal over the winter, he headed to Vegas and has mashed at a .288/.385/.630 clip while slugging 14 home runs, 17 doubles and a pair of triples in 218 plate appearances.

Wilson has played all over the diamond in his pro career, though his primary positions have been second base and third base. He’s also logged nearly 500 innings at first base, and the A’s have been giving him time in left field so far in 2021 as well. He’ll give them a right-handed bat to help cover for Pinder’s absence. In 1409 career plate appearances at the Triple-A level, Wilson is a .263/.341/.462 hitter.

This is the second IL stint of the season for Pinder, who missed more than a month earlier in the year thanks to a left knee sprain. The 29-year-old has been a versatile and valuable role player for the A’s in recent years, but he’s struggling through the least-productive season of his MLB tenure to date, batting just .216/.269/.358 with the second-highest strikeout rate (27.6 percent) and second-lowest walk rate (5.5 percent) of his career.

A’s Add Three To 40-Man Roster, Announce Several Minor League Signings

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The Athletics announced Friday that they’ve selected the contracts of right-handers Miguel Romero and Wandisson Charles, as well as outfielder Greg Deichmann. Oakland also announced minor league deals and non-roster invites to Spring Training for 11 players. Right-handers Domingo Acevedo, Cristian Alvarado, Argenis Angulo, Matt Blackham, Ben Bracewell, Montana DuRapau, Brian Schlitter and Trey Supak will all be in camp with the A’s next year, as will infielders Pete Kozma, Frank Schwindel and Jacob Wilson.

Each of Romero, Charles and Deichmann was in Oakland’s 60-man player pool for the truncated 2020 regular season, but none of the three made his big league debut this year. Both Deichmann (No. 13) and Romero (No. 25) currently rank among the Athletics’ Top 30 prospects at MLB.com.

Deichmann was a second-round pick out of LSU in 2017 and has struggled at the plate in the minors due to wrist injuries, but he erupted with nine homers, two doubles and a triple in just 95 Arizona Fall League plate appearances in 2019. Romero, 26, averaged 10 K/9 and kept his ERA south of 4.00 in an outrageously hitter-friendly Triple-A setting in 2019 — a far more difficult task than one might expect at first glance. Just 28 of the 143 Triple-A pitchers with at least 70 innings managed a sub-4.00 mark thanks to the introduction of what was widely believed to be a juiced ball in an already hitter-friendly setting.

Among the non-roster invitees, Kozma jumps out at the most recognizable name. The former Cardinals shortstop has long been touted as a defensive wizard but has never been able to provide much in the way of offense to accompany his proficiency with the leather. DuRapau’s agents announced his signing last week, as we previously covered. The 34-year-old Schlitter is a well-traveled journeyman who logged 9 2/3 frames with the A’s in ’19. Supak was once a well-regarded prospect with both the Brewers and Pirates but will look for a fresh start with the Oakland org. Schwindel, a right-handed-hitting first baseman, got a very small cup of coffee with the 2019 Royals.

Former Big Leaguers Playing Abroad: KBO Hitter Roundup

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It’s always fun to keep an eye on familiar players who’ve taken their talents across the pond. Now that the 2019 season is in the books, it seemed an opportune time to check in. Numerous former big leaguers are playing abroad, many of them thriving in Asia’s top leagues.

We’ve seen foreign stints help spur big league revivals from quite a few players. Eric Thames, Miles Mikolas, and Chris Martin are among those that played significant roles in the 2019 MLB campaign. Whether any of the players covered below will do so remains to be seen, but there’s certainly a path.

Let’s start with the Korea Baseball Organization, the top league in South Korea. Remember, teams in the KBO and other leagues face limits on the number of non-native players they can employ. That creates a lot of pressure to secure big production from those roster spots, and often spurs mid-season change. (Statistics courtesy of the always excellent MyKBO.)

The top performers …

  • Former Phillies slugger Darin Ruf marauded the KBO once again, though he wasn’t quite as awesome this year (.911 OPS, 22 home runs) as he was in 2018 (1.024 OPS, 33 home runs). After scoring with Ruf, the Samsung Lions went after Mac Williamson in a mid-season move. But Williamson failed to gain traction in his forty contests, hitting a tepid .273/.329/.409.
  • Several other hitters joined Ruf as repeat KBO participants and star-level performers. Outfielder Jamie Romak has also now completed three excellent campaigns with the SK Wyverns. Like Ruf, he took a step back this year (1.001 OPS to .878 OPS), likely reflecting a KBO baseball de-juicing effort.
  • After a brief but promising showing in 2018, Jerry Sands rewarded the Kiwoom Heroes for bringing him back by swatting 28 dingers and batting a robust .305/.400/.543 on the year. Jared Hoying wasn’t quite as productive, but turned in a solid sophomore campaign with the Hanwha Eagles (.284/.343/.460).
  • The KT Wiz continued to benefit from their 2017 find of outfielder Mel Rojas Jr., who never got a big-league call-up from the Pirates or Braves. He slashed a robust .322/.384/.530 with 24 homers in his third KBO season.

Several KBO newcomers found something in their new organizations …

  • Jose Miguel Fernandez took a difficult path to the majors and did not receive a lengthy opportunity at the game’s highest level, but displayed his intriguing blend of hitting ability with the Doosan Bears. Appearing in all 144 contests, Fernandez poked 15 long balls and slashed a hefty .344/.413/.483.
  • The KIA Tigers dropped former Cardinals flash-in-the-pan outfielder Jeremy Hazelbaker after just eleven contests. That may have been a quick leash, but they ended up making out well with Preston Tucker. The former MLB reserve outfielder ultimately slashed .311/.382/.479 with nine home runs.

Other KBO organizations are likely to go back to the drawing board after cycling through multiple players …

  • Another team changing horses in mid-stream was the LG Twins, who tired of former Phillies first bagger Tommy Joseph after he slashed .274/.335/.426 with nine long balls in 54 games. The club turned to another OBP-challenged slugger in the left-handed-hitting Carlos Peguero, who provided a bit more overall offense (.286/.333/.472) but no additional dingers (9) in his 57 appearances.
  • Former Padres infielder Carlos Asuaje struggled in 49 games with the Lotte Giants, slashing just .252/.358/.368. He was replaced by Jacob Wilson, a former Cards and Nats farmhand, but Wilson wasn’t much more effective (.251/.352/.433 with nine home runs). (Wilson and Rojas were the only two hitters to appear in the KBO this year without prior MLB experience.)
  • The NC Dinos opened the year with Christian Bethancourt behind the plate, but he didn’t do enough damage to hang onto his roster spot, with a .246/.311/.404 line in 53 games. That led to a mid-season change to former big league outfielder Jake Smolinski. Unfortunately, he managed only a .229/.301/.439 slash of his own.

KBO’s Lotte Giants To Acquire Jacob Wilson, Release Carlos Asuaje

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The Lotte Giants of the KBO League are set to acquire infielder Jacob Wilson from the Nationals, as per a report from Naver Sports (hat tip to The Athletic’s Sung Min Kim).  Wilson will take the place of infielder Carlos Asuaje, who is being released.

As per the Pacific Coast League’s official transactions page, Wilson has been placed on the Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies’ temporarily inactive list, likely while the details of the move to South Korea are finalized.  Wilson was originally a 10th-round pick for the Cardinals in the 2012 draft, and has compiled a .257/.336/.435 slash line and an even 100 home runs over 3029 career PA in the minors.  Wilson has yet to reach the big leagues at age 28, and the move to the KBO League offers him a new opportunity (and larger salary) than he was likely to obtain continuing in the Nats’ organization.

Wilson has mostly played second and third base in his career, though he has experience all over the diamond, with multiple starts at first base, shortstop, and both corner outfield positions.  He also heads to the Giants in the wake of his best-ever season at the plate, as Wilson has clearly enjoyed the thin air of the PCL to the tune of a 1.023 OPS in 230 plate appearances for Fresno.

Asuaje only just joined the KBO this past offseason, delivering a .252/.356/.368 slash over 194 PA this season.  A veteran of 175 MLB games with the Padres from 2016-18, Asuaje hit .240/.312/.329 over 586 PA for San Diego, with the large majority of his production coming against right-handed pitching.

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