CRAIG WILSON
11/30/76; '95 2nd (Toronto); Huntington Beach, CA (HS)
R/R; 6-2, 225
| Level |
BA |
OBP |
SA |
AB |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
K |
SB |
CS |
| 1995 R (Tor) |
.283 |
.367 |
.484 |
184 |
14 |
1 |
7 |
24 |
44 |
8 |
2 |
| 1996 A (Tor) |
.261 |
.316 |
.402 |
495 |
27 |
5 |
11 |
32 |
120 |
17 |
11 |
| 1997 A+ |
.264 |
.350 |
.476 |
401 |
26 |
1 |
19 |
39 |
98 |
6 |
5 |
| 1998 AA |
.331 |
.399 |
.507 |
148 |
11 |
0 |
5 |
14 |
32 |
4 |
1 |
| 1998 A+ |
.269 |
.348 |
.507 |
219 |
12 |
2 |
12 |
22 |
53 |
2 |
1 |
| 1999 AA |
.268 |
.367 |
.508 |
362 |
21 |
3 |
20 |
40 |
104 |
1 |
3 |
| 2000 AAA |
.283 |
.383 |
.598 |
396 |
24 |
1 |
33 |
44 |
121 |
1 |
2 |
| 2001 NL |
.310 |
.390 |
.589 |
158 |
3 |
1 |
13 |
15 |
53 |
3 |
1 |
| 2001 AAA |
.289 |
.333 |
.444 |
45 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
14 |
0 |
0 |
| 2002 NL |
.264 |
.355 |
.443 |
368 |
16 |
1 |
16 |
32 |
116 |
2 |
3 |
| 2003 NL |
.262 |
.360 |
.511 |
309 |
15 |
4 |
18 |
35 |
89 |
3 |
1 |
| 2004 NL |
.264 |
.354 |
.499 |
561 |
35 |
5 |
29 |
50 |
169 |
2 |
2 |
After several years of controversy, in which Wilson spent half his time on the bench
behind inferior players, he finally got his chance to play every day in 2004.
Although Wilson had consistently been one of the team's best hitters over his first
several years, the team found numerous excuses not to play him regularly, some with
a little justification and some nonsensical: his defense was poor, he couldn't hit
RHPs, he couldn't hit anything other than a fastball, he'd be "overexposed" as a
regular. His opportunity finally came in late 2003, after the Pirates jettisoned
Brian Giles and Randall Simon. He played every day in September and hit 265/345/541.
The Pirates nevertheless added Raul Mondesi and brought back Simon over the winter,
which would have relegated Wilson once again to the bench had Jason Bay been available,
but Bay missed the first six weeks. By the time Bay could play, Mondesi had quit the
team, Simon had become a major embarrassment, and Wilson was off to a blazing start.
Wilson posted an OPS over 1.000 in each of the first two months, making it impossible
for the team to find any more excuses not to play him. He slumped after that and
struggled much of the time for the rest of the season, hitting 178/250/337 in June
and 235/322/453 after the All-Star break. Much of the problem plainly was making
contact. His K rate was down sharply in April from what it had been in the past, as
he fanned only once every five ABs. It jumped back to once every three in May and
stayed at that level the rest of the season. Ultimately he broke Donn Clendenon's
team single season mark. Wilson isn't exactly an impatient hitter, as he takes a
fair number of pitches. As Steve Blass said on the air, his problem isn't so much
being unable to hit breaking balls as being unable to lay off "breaking balls he can't
hit." Specifically, he has trouble laying off breaking balls away. By September he
was chasing them constantly, resulting in a dismal 171/284/342 showing for the month.
Wilson's walk rate is a little low, but his OBP is bolstered by a tendency to get hit
with pitches, in 2004 a major league-leading 30 times. Wilson had an extreme platoon
split in prior years, but he hit RHPs better than LHPs in early 2004. Possibly due to
his increasing inability to lay off breaking pitches outside, he eventually ended up
with a mild split: 259/375/537 vs. LHPs and 265/349/490 vs. RHPs. In the field,
Wilson moved around between LF, RF and 1B, depending upon the rest of the lineup.
He doesn't have much range in the OF, but he generally catches what he gets to. His
arm is fair. He probably rates as barely adequate at all those positions, as well as
at C, although he played only 17 innings there in 2004. Wilson doesn't run well, but
he isn't nearly on a level with base-cloggers like Daryle Ward and Simon. The Pirates
undoubtedly will be worried going into 2005 about whether he can rebound from his
disappointing second half. The Ks are a serious concern, but it's likely that his
production for 2004 as a whole will roughly be his norm for a few years. He was a
good hitter in the minors, with excellent power, and his rate stats in 2004 were
nearly identical to 2003. That doesn't make him an outstanding hitter for 1B or
RF—on a good team, he'd hit 6th, not cleanup as he did for most of 2004—but
it would make him perfectly OK if enough of the rest of the lineup was up to major
league standards. With the acquisition of Matt Lawton to play RF, Wilson is expected
to move to 1B, where he may lose some playing time to Daryle Ward. There also were
rumors going into the winter that the Pirates wanted to trade Wilson to dump his
salary, as he'll get a large raise in arbitration. If he stays, he'll probably hit
cleanup in 2005 in what should be one of MLB's worst lineups.
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