Austin Wilson, OF
6′ 4″ 210lbs 2/7/1992
Harvard-Westlake HS, CA
AZ’s snap take: As I suppress my fanboy glee — THE CARDINALS DRAFTED AUSTIN WILSON — ahem, excuse me, the round tells you what you need to know about this. It’s a flyer to give them negotiating rights with a top 20 player from the draft. Reportedly, it’s not about the money for Wilson. He and his parents want him to attend Stanford and he’s not really holding out for a certain dollar figure. Still, anything’s possible and if the Cardinals manage to sign him, he just might be the best prospect they get from the 2010 draft. Full Disclosure: I’m probably higher on Wilson than most draft followers.
MLB Draft Tracker:
Wilson not only has tremendous tools — his raw power being the best of them — he has the work ethic and character to maximize those tools. still a little bit raw, he does need to improve his overall hitting skills so he’ll be able to consistently tap into that power at the next level. He’s a sponge who soaks up information, so most feel he’ll do just fine down the road. With a plus arm and good speed, the Stanford signee could be a prototypical right fielder in due time, one who doesn’t wait long to hear his name on Draft day.
ESPN:
The ball comes off Wilson’s bat very well and he’ll show flashes of power in BP; his front side can go soft and in general his upper and lower halves get out of sync easily. He’s a below-average runner but has good flexibility, so overall he’s reasonably athletic. He has an above-average arm and plenty of range for right field if he demonstrates that his bat will play there. He’s a very intelligent kid with good makeup, and I haven’t met anyone who knows Wilson and has a bad word to say about him.
There is one ace in the hole for the team that does draft him, if they’re willing to pay him what he wants: Hitters who go to Stanford get worse, not better, and the recent big league hitters who’ve come out of there have done so in spite of their time in Palo Alto, not because of it. If Wilson wants to be a big leaguer and can get a million bucks or two for his trouble, he should turn pro now. College will always be there later.
Baseball America:
Wilson has developed into the finest right-field prospect the Southern California region has seen since 2007, when Mike Stanton, the current Marlins phenom, came out of another Sherman Oaks private school (Notre Dame). Sporting a chiseled pro corner outfielder’s frame, Wilson displays a throwing arm that conservatively grades out to a 70 on the 20-80 scouting scale. He has lowered his 60 times to around 6.78 seconds, outstanding for a player of his 6-foot-4, 210-pound size. A stress fracture in his lower back, since healed, prevented him from touring the showcase circuit last fall. Before that setback, Wilson put on some of the more impressive wood-bat batting-practice sessions local scouts have seen in years. As one example, in the fall of 2008 at JC of the Canyons in Valencia, Wilson blasted about 20 balls out of the yard, leaving jaws dropping all over the ballpark. The main on-field reservation scouts have regarding Wilson is how his bat will play in games. He struggles with pitch recognition, needs to be more patient, has difficulty with balls down in the zone and will need to avoid committing his front side too soon. Much has been made of Wilson’s background. Both of his parents hold advanced degrees from prestigious universities, and he has a Stanford commitment. He is perhaps the draft’s most fascinating wild card. He has no adviser heading into the draft and scouts were having difficulty gauging his signability.
Baseball Beginnings — Scouting Report — There’s a host of links on the second page to other videos and reports on Austin Wilson.
A Variety of Youtube Videos on Wilson: Batting Practice, 2009 Area Code Games – Wood Bat, Outfield Throws & Batting Practice, Outfield Throws
Entries (RSS)
I say we throw 4 million at him. If he takes it, great, if not, I’m not sure we can do much else. I really hope we are able to sign him although I wouldn’t bet on it.
I think Wilson wants to play for a good franchise, him waiting 3 years and being drafted by a bad organization isn’t a very attractive option when he was chosen this time by a very good organizaton. I’m not convinced that we do sign him but I think there are alot of things that tell me he may want to sign with us. Does he really want to play for Royals or Orioles or Pirates?
Homerdom aside is there a franchise that’s a better fit for a guy like Wilson?
I would love to see this guy signed. but im not holding my breath. Much like the Texas player a few years ago..name slips my mind.. i see him going to school and then coming out and being drafted in the 1st round by…The Cardinals!
Kyle Russel? He came back made about a third of as much as we offered him and he’s hitting abotu 346 with 15 Hr in the Texas League I think.
Sounds like he’s getting a lot of pressure from his parents to go to Stanford. Obviously, I say come to the Cardinals! Signing Cox and Wilson would be huge, albeit a long shot.
BJ Rains as an article up on his interview with Luhnow mainly discussing Wilson.
http://www.foxsportsmidwest.com/06/08/10/Cardinals-take-gamble-on-high-school-phe/landing.html?blockID=249830&feedID=3794
Maybe he could be the next Rickey Henderson? Speed like Willie McGee with the power of Jack Clark, like Vladimar Guerrero. Always looking for someone like Andy Van Slyke. Too many players with injuries like J. D. Drew. Without injuries Ryan Ludwick would have had many more memorable years. Without the worry of steroids, Austin Wilson could build up his strength and skills at Memphis for a few years. Elvis could use new fans!
We all know they’ll have to pay him like a top #10 pick so I’m sure the Cardinals are prepared to do that if they drafted him. I wonder if the key to getting him to sign would be to come up with a creative solution that would let him go to school part time or something like that?
Anyway, he seems like a great young man and he would definitely be a true asset (both on and off the field) to the Cardinals organization. Hopefully the front office can find a way to entice him to sign with the Cardinals (not Cardinal).
Oh, and letting him meet and take BP with the team while they are in LA couldn’t hurt either.
Time to cut the cord Austin. Take the money, move out of mom and dad’s house, play ball…
@Andrew: Russell isn’t to AA yet (or was just recently promoted). He’s been destroying High-A ball though.
It will take more than money to get Wilson, but it will also taken money and lots of it.
Perhaps we should try to figure out if other teams signed HS stars in the past with some stipulation and money with regards to college. Did they get the college to defer their admission until the player declined it? Did they put scholarship money in a trust for the player for when he wants to attend?
I have no idea, but the Cards will have to get creative to sign him.
I agree he doesn’t want just money which is a good thing as I see that he’s smart enough to really see the value in an organization like the Cardinals. We treat our people well and roll out the Red carpet. I can see the FO paying for his college during the off season or something like that. If we can show his parents that he will get his time at Stanford as just a student and sign with our organization I think they take it.
@ Andrew: In addition to the millions of dollars of course.
I think we will pay the millions. Luhnow said they have known the family for a few years and the draft gives some time to try to come to common ground so he can get what he wants regarding college and can still be a Cardinal. We spent 3.5 Wagner Mateo who was probably rawer than Wilson. Your ideas, does 3.5 get Wilson assuming we let me go to college during the off season? Pay for school too?
http://baseballbeginnings.com/2010/03/29/austin-wilson-qa/
Read this interview and tell me this guy doesn’t have a great head on his shoulders. Real good head on his shoulders for such a young guy. Hopefully he comes to the conclusion that signing with us is the best for him.
There is hope afterall…..
http://yankees.scout.com/2/969666.html
Is there anything stopping the Cardinals from simplt giving the guy 1st round money since its is apparent that he was a 1st rounder. Just make an offer like they did to Shelby last year and sign the guy.
Looking at the Cards draft picks I would signle out the guys that have the most potential and get thjem signed.
Wilson
Bryant
They have to be priorities.
For those that didn’t read the article at the end he is asked who he looks up to for there skills and how they play the game and he mentions Pujols and Matt Kemp. I don’t think its just about money it has to be a good situation and a good fit which I think the Cardinals would be. I think if he want’s first round money we will give it to him. I don’t think we give him 4 or 5. If he wants 3 or 3.5 I think we do it.
This has obviously been done to shave a million off Cox’s deal (or at least to make it more likely that he’ll sign for our highest offer). I really don’t see us signing him.
One thing I WOULD try, though, and it’s a long shot, which I suspect hasn’t likely been done before. We give Wilson, say, $2m now to sign for the Cardinals org, and we literally just let him go to college for three years. Not just outside the season, but literally full-time at college. Maybe pay for it, too (that’s, what, a couple of hundred grand?).
He’s still 21 when that time’s up, he’s played college ball and hopefully had some time in Cape Cod in the summer to adjust to wood bats, so presumably we could start him at QC or even PB, it’s not cost us a first round pick and it gives us the rights to the player. From his POV, he gets his college education AND the security of a big payday/professional contract when he’s finished. Is this in any way realistic?
@Felonius_Monk: That used to be done all the time – it was called a draft and follow. That option was eliminated in 2006 when the new CBA was announced.
Maybe let him go to college full time and just have him play for us or develop with us during the summer. It’s not a draft and follow because he is still in the organization and developing and training but he’s not doing baseball full time. I do n’t think he would be allowed to play baseball at Stanford but if he really wants a normal experience playing D1 baseball isn’t going to give him a normal experience.
Mattison just said that the rumored amount to buy him out of his scholarship is 3 million. If it’s just that I think we do it. I got to thinking how much leway would we give him regarding college in order for him agreeing to sign with us? Lets say he agrees to 2 million in exchange for letting him go to school full time for a few years, He wouldn’t be allowed to play baseball at Stanford but in his summers he workout and develop with the organization. So essentially maybe not play baseball full time. Based on an interview I read of his he already has a personal hitting coach and works real hard on his own to develop his game, he can continue to do that and go to class and plus in the organization during the summers. That way he gets guaranteed money and a chance to go to school full time. If not you gotta hope that his parents have an insurance policy out on his knees or elbows because he could be out of alot of money if he gets hurt bad. Is there anything in the CBA to say that if an organization signs someone that they have to play with them full time?
@Swirls:
I don’t know much about the CBA but would it still be a sign and follow if he goes to college full time, doesn’t play baseball there because you can’t play baseball in college while being the property a major league team and then plus with us during the summer? He already works out very hard on his own and has his own hitting coach. You would think that just because someone is in an organization doesn ‘t mean that hey to take part in all of the organizations activities. Is this a possible way around the CBA?
I believe this is possible because Navy Pitcher MItch Harris is still under team control even as he serves in the military. When his time is up he will be under Cardinal control I believe.
I played ball in high school with a kid drafted in the 3rd round by the yankees (zach mcallister) and they put a stipulation in his contract that if he fulfills his contract then they will pay for 4 years of college at the school of his choice. Something like that may work with wilson. Put money aside that will cover 4 years of tuition at stanford for him and if he finishes out his rookie contract and decides he doesn’t want to play ball the cardinals give him that money and he goes to stanford.
Just a thought, but I think too much is being made of his academic ability. Yes, his parents have prestigious degrees. But Wilson is a premium athlete with a 3.2 GPA. That’s not that great a GPA, and it’s being made out to sound like a 4.0. He has that Stanford “scholarship” for athletics. It doesn’t take that much to get a 3.2 in high school, so if that’s all he’s giving in school, then he might just be using his parents’ degrees to up his asking price (really sounds like a Boras thing to do, though he’s not even involved with Wilson as far as I know). Now this has been analyzed by many people a lot smarter than me, so I may be entirely out of line or off base, but still it’s worth consideration
@Brian: I think the point is this. His advisors as of now are his parents in life. He didn’t hire an agent to this point. With that said he has probably consulted a number of “experts” to give him advise, etc. But his parents are probably the type that came from well educated backgrounds (which is obvious by their degrees) and are raising their kid(s) to understand how important a good education is. So you hear that your whole life and now its time to make a decision and there is a different dynamic involved. With that said some kids just want to go to college to get to experience the joys of college life. But I find it hard to believe that someone walks away from $3M or so to do it. But everyone is different and that seems to be the case with this kid. I am not sure what we are going to be willing to propose but if it gets up and around $3M that is hard to walk away from IMO.
@nmstar:
This was my thought as well. A creative solution so he can get into Stanford now and get his education. He can always go back to school, but he may not always be able to get into Stanford. Why not see if we can work out a creative solution that allows him to do both.
@Felonius_Monk: Wouldn’t he lose his amateur status and thus lose the ability to play college ball?
@Todd Metheny:
In short, yes.
@Travis: In my solution he does lose his chance to play college ball but he doesn’t lose his chance to go to college out of HS. Does he want to play college ball or does he want to go to college is the question. If he wants to go to college the plan works if he wants to play college ball it doesnt. By playing college ball he’s risking ALOT of money on the chance he busts out or gets hurt. He also risks a strict slotting system by 2013and less money.@Travis:
Why wouldn’t he be able to get back into stanford if he can pay for the classes? I figure Stanford has older students applying and getting in all the time. Wonder how they figure who guys in and who doesn’t if the kid doesn’t come straight from HS.
I’ll go ahead and mention the name here, since it came up over at VEB today: Jack McGeary. Lefty pitcher, drafted by Washington in 2007. The sides worked out a special arrangement for him to go to — where else? — Stanford while pitching for the Nats’ minor leagues as well.
Just some food for thought.
The more I read about Wilson, the more it looks to me like a guy who’s seriously prepared to play pro ball. His family has invested a lot of money in coaching and personal training.
In one interview he described going to a strength coach in Santa Barbara. (I think it was a link from Andrew — good find.) I used to live in the Sherman Oaks/North Hollywood area, which is where his high school is located. It’s nowhere near Santa Barbara. That’s a long drive on congested roads. Why would you do that at 18, if you’re not planning to play pro ball for another 3 years? He could’ve gotten into any of his top schools — Stanford, USC, UCLA — without those extra pounds of muscle and the tenths of a second he shaved off his speed in the 60.
All that said, 30 highly competitive baseball organizations passed up 378 chances to draft him before the Cards finally broke up their string of drafting lefties to take a shot. I can’t imagine that the Red Sox and Yankees were afraid of his price tag. So his family must’ve convinced all of them that the chance of Austin signing were practically nonexistent.
I’m not going to lose sleep over this one, but right now, in the throes of draft fever, he looks like he’s as serious about pro baseball as anyone in the conversation.
@Aaron: Doing something like might be appealing to him (Wilson). Based on McGeary’s stats so far in his career he isn’t lighting the minors on fire (and now he needs TJ surgery) so it is difficult to say if that arrangement has worked out. Stanford is on the quarter system so perhaps they could let him go to school part time and play in the minors part time (McGeary seems to be going full time to Stanford) in addition to the huge bonus?
Andrew, you bring up a good point that the new CBA could definitely change draft bonus rules in a few years so that is something else the club should point out to him in their presentation. Austin definitely wants to play professionally and is putting in the work to be successful. Hopefully the Cards can up with an offer that convinces him to sign.
@Lou Schuler:
You bring up a valid point, but I think that has more to do with Wilson wanting to be great. Wilson’s got a great head on his shoulders and that is part of the reason why I have a hard time picturing him completely flaming out.
Rob Rains has an article about how we need to do everything possible to sign Austin Wilson. Good article and he quotes Wilson from a few weeks ago really seems like he hasn’t really decided if he wants to sign or not but he very well may.
Hey everyone I am kinda new at this whole baseball thing. I mean I watch the Red Birds pretty constantly but I just started loving them last year. It was this thing to talk about with my father in law and it stuck. So how soon do draft choices play? Do they go straight from college to the line up or is it a must to go to the minors first? Every where I look every one is praying for this Austin Wilson kid to join the club. What about the first choice in Zac Cox? Can he take over for Miles? I mean I dont mean to hate but that guy has no bat at all. What about the pitching were did they get this Foxworth guy? I’ve watched and I dont get it he completely sucks period. Can one of our draft choices come in and play in the bull pen and then become a starter. It seems to me the cards are on a slippery slope to the bottom. We need some hitting I know Rasmus and Freese are injured and due back soon but the cards need help in all area’s it appears t me. I appreciate any knowledge I can get so I sound smart in front of my father in law.
Just to make this clear. Wilson will not sign unless its for 1st round money. Like a $2 -3M signing bonus. If the Cards aren’t prepared to offer a 12th round pick 1st round money he wont sign.
@mizzcards: Word on the street is it will take between $3-4M….not 2-3. We are talking Top 5 money
@JC:
Some of it could be deferred. Say a two to three million signing bonus upfront with a clause in his contract that the Cardinals pay for four years of any college of Wilson’s choice. That would put his contract somewhere between 4 to 5 million when it is all said and done.
@JC: Where is this word coming from? Give Wilson 3 and Cox 3. If Cox is legit about wanting Alvarez money I don’t see us spending that on him. Just put the money that would go towards him towards Wilson. I rather have Wilson anyway.
@Karmaloop: No argument there. Seems like a very, very bright kid with a terrific future on and off the field. I’d love it if he became a Cardinal, but I won’t begrudge him the chance to play for the Cardinal.
I’m just imaging if in an interview he says I’m going to be a Cardinal next year. That ambiguity would drive people crazy.
@Danny W:
I’ll sum it up to the best of my ability.
Austin Wilson is a 1st round talent that we snagged in the 12th. He projects as a RF, but we not see the bigs for at least 3-4 years. He wants 1st round money and that may not be enough to sign him.
Zack Cox projects as a 3B because he is probably not a good enough defender at 2b. He could be up within 2 years if all goes well.
PJ- I disagree with you on Cox’s position. He’s much more valuable to the organization as a second baseman. He doesn’t seem to project much power and has been called a fringe defender at 3b. Add to that we already have a GG potential thirdbaseman hopefully for years to come. If Cox works hard (every indication is that he is a tireless worker) he can convert to 2b and be a high average moderate power guy for that postion for years to come. I like him at 2nd prospect but not at 3rd.
@Andrew: I have been in a TON of experts chats and forums in the past 3-5 weeks on the draft. The number that kept coming up from them was a minimum of $3M to get the conversation started.
Also its not what we think Cox can play its what the organization thinks he can play. I would trust their scouts and strong baseball minds over some video or game on TV. To me he doesn’t fit the mold of a 2B for him body types and movements. I think he is definitely a 3B.
A fast moving polished hitter blocked by a good young GG caliber hometown boy. Sounds similar to a Brett Wallace type situation. Cox has played 2b this year already and local people say he would probably have played there more if Arkansas had a better option at 3rd. I do believe we drafted him but not extensively. Honestly who would have thought he would have dropped to 25. He probably wasn’t even on our radar till after the 10th pick and he wasn’t gone yet.
I found this interview with Austin Wilson taken just before the draft that I hadn’t seen before: http://www.foxsportswest.com/pages/landing?blockID=245534&tagID=14885
I haven’t seen any quotes from him since the draft has taken place.
I feel like if you go to college for three years you will be mature as well, but people know the fastest way to be a big leaguer is by the more wooded at bats you get, the better you will become. That is what I am deciding between right now.
Well as of a few days before the draft Wilson seems split 50/50 on what he wants to do. At least he knows that the best way to the bigs is to get started with the wooden bat early. Good sign.
[...] MIT, strong value on education, and he has a free ride to Stanford himself. When he was drafted, Future Redbirds noted that it was not about the money. Whether or not he signed a contract to join the St. Louis [...]
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