Round 10, Pick 330: Jacob Wilson, 2B
Posted on June 6th, 2012 by Jeff in 2012 MLB Draft, tags: Jacob WilsonJacob Wilson
Senior, U of Memphis
Height: 6’00″
Weight: 195lbs
DOB: 07/29/90
Throws: R
Bats: R
Jeff’s Quick Take: Now it is clear what the Cardinals were doing in the a lot of the early rounds of the “new” MLB draft. Baseball America has a great breakdown of what chaos the new rules have brought. Basically, teams’ bonus pools will be hurt if they do not sign a player in the top 10 rounds and if teams go “over slot” of 100k after the 10th round, that money will go against their bonus pool. However, if they fail to sign that player after the 10th round, they will not lose any money from the bonus pool. That increased the value of college seniors. The Cardinals may have been ahead of the game by picking the best college senior they could find in James Ramsey in the 1st round. But, that’s for another post. The Astros picked highly touted HS arm Hunter Virant with the first pick of the 11th round. This is highly messed up. Either way, forget the round, the Cardinals got a new player in Jacob Wilson, 2B/3B from Memphis. He has hit a park and schedule adjusted .414 wOBA this year with a good walk rate and not too many strikeouts. Reports after the jump.
Wilson won the Conference-USA player of the year:
University of Memphis senior third baseman Jacob Wilson, who led Conference USA in home runs, slugging percentage and total bases, was named C-USA Player of the Year today.
Wilson, a Bartlett High product, hit 16 home runs and drove in 62 runs during the regular season. He had a slugging percentage of .623 and amassed 134 total bases.
Via Phil Stukenborg on Twitter:
Interesting note on Mem 3B Jacob Wilson: He hit his 15th HR of the season in the 4th inn. Most HRs by a Tiger since Dan Uggla hit 18 (2001)
Here’s a slideshow of Jacob “in action”.
And here’s a shakycam video of Jacob after hearing he won the C-USA player of the year. (Seriously people, get a tripod, it is not that hard!)
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Very Luhnow-ish type pick as well. Good bat. Tools don’t project that well. Maybe we get lucky and get the Matt Adams of 2B men!
I’m from Memphis and have seen Wilson play numerous times. Very well built, but not certain he’s athletic enough for 2B. . .then again, Uggla won’t ever be mistaken as an uber athlete either. He has made great strides each year, however, and I hope that continues in pro ball. Not real toolsy, but can really square up a ball. . .and his makeup is off the charts. Seems the Cards have drafted quite a few of those guys in this draft. Anyway, I like the Wilson pick, and at worst he’ll be a very good organizational player, and his value obviously increases if he can handle 2B.
I said it earlier…it is like Luhnow never left. I think this is a very similar draft to what he would have done in a similar draft position situation with the new rules. Basically the Cardinals have a developed system that they are constantly going adjust year to year, but STOUT is a fully developed system.
This all makes me very confident that we are going to find a hidden gem or two in the later rounds. This has been another calling card of the system.
Whats STOUT?
STOUT is the system that the Cardinals developed under Luhnow to rank draft prospects. It is a combination of STatistical analysis and scOUTing reports. From what I understand they adjust it year to year based on the make up of the draft, weighing certain statistics, and actually weighing certain scouting reports based on the scouts track record.
Wait a sec. Some scouts are better than other scouts? Just joshin’. ;)
I guess we can’t really judge the Redbird draft much at all until we see who signs. A bit frustrating, but I’m gonna keep the faith and cross my fingers.
Between Carson Kelly, Trey Williams and Max Foody, plenty of intrigue to see who actually signs before the deadline in July. And thank God that deadline has been moved up from August. . .waiting 2 1/2 months to actually see who would be Cardinals was torture.
This has the makings of a good draft, hitter wise.