MLB analyst questions Jacob Wilson’s ability to avoid major regression in 2026 originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Athletics have been busy locking up their younger talent lately. Back in March, they signed Lawrence Butler to a seven-year extension, Tyler Soderstrom for the same number of years back in December, and most recently, Jacob Wilson to a seven-year deal as well.
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It’s smart for teams to lock up the younger talent before they explode into stars. It helps save them money and gives these younger guys a bigger paycheck while still allowing them to be free agents at some point.
Wilson won the starting shortstop job out of camp and went on to play in 128 regular-season games. During that time, he hit .311/.355/.444 with 13 home runs and 63 runs batted in, which helped him become an All-Star.
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MLB analyst questions Jacob Wilson’s ability to avoid major regression in 2026
Wilson played in his first full season last year, erasing his rookie status. He now comes into the new season looking to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump.
This has been something that has been unavoidable for some players in the past. Just look back at what Corbin Carroll did after winning Rookie of the Year in 2023, or Colton Cowser’s slump from last season.
Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter believes Wilson could be on the verge of being another player to add to this list. He questions the young slugger’s ability to continue to keep up his impressive offensive numbers.
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“His marks in average exit velocity, hard-hit rate, barrel rate and bat speed were all among the worst in baseball, which could make maintaining his batting line extremely difficult. Can he pack enough punch to avoid carrying an empty batting average going forward?”
Despite putting the ball in play, Wilson lacks the exit velocity, bat speed, hard-hit rate, and barrel rate that other big leaguers have. He has to rely on putting the ball in play on weaker contact, and some would say he had gotten extremely lucky last season.
It could be hard for him to produce the same numbers offensively in 2026, but he could come out and surprise a few analysts. He understands he is missing the power to drive the ball and has been working on adding some muscle this offseason, via MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos.
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