OAKLAND — Jacob Wilson’s immediate playing future with the Oakland Athletics is in limbo.
“We’re still waiting,” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay. “We’ve got an MRI set up for tomorrow. He’s unavailable today, but we want to get the read on the MRI most likely before we make a decision on a roster move. He came in sore today. We don’t want to rush the decision, but we’ll probably make a decision at some point tomorrow.”
Wilson, the A’s No. 1 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, started at shortstop on Friday night and recorded his first major league hit. He then scored on Lawrence Butler’s triple but started to limp noticeably when rounding third base and heading for home.
The A’s have described Wilson’s injury as a left hamstring strain. The MRI will reveal the extent of the strain, and the A’s are not delaying the MRI to wait for Wilson’s swelling to subside.
“The swelling’s going to be there because it is a strain,” Kotsay said. “It’s not a cramp, so we’ll just wait for the film and see what it says.”
Oakland outfielder Brent Rooker noted that while the Athletics are disappointed about Wilson’s injury — and hopeful for a quick recovery — Friday’s game still served as a good opportunity for the rookie to get his feet wet at the big-league level.
“It’s a tough situation,” Rooker said. “Obviously, we were excited to get him here. Heard all the good things about him. We were looking forward to seeing what he can do and having him help us win games, and he showed he could do that in the first few innings. Then just a little bit of tough luck there on his part.”
Rooker encountered a similar situation shortly after he debuted with the Twins in 2020, fracturing his arm in his seventh career game.
“Not the same situation at all, but I dealt with something similar,” Rooker said. “I got called up in ’20, and then I broke my arm and missed the rest of that season. So there’s some similarities there for sure.
“But he’s going to get healthy, he’s going to get back. I talked to him yesterday after he came out and I said, ‘Look, you got all the firsts out of the way. You got the first start, you got the first hit. All that’s done now. So whenever you’re healthy, you just come back and get to play, you don’t have to worry about that stuff.’ So we’re excited to have him back, whenever that is.”
Mason Miller’s MLB All-Star Game performance went about as well as the A’s rookie closer could have expected.
The 25-year-old fireballer pitched a perfect inning, striking out Shohei Ohtani and tying up Trea Turner with a perfectly located slider. He also set the record for fastest pitch in an All-Star Game, hurling a 103.6 mph four-seam fastball on his first pitch to Turner.
The All-Star experience was a good one for Miller, even though he’d love to see a few of his teammates there next year.
“The performance is the icing on the cake,” Miller said. “The whole experience was really hard to put into words. It was super fast, super busy. Just being there with all the stars across the game was really surreal and kind of humbling, too.”
Miller enjoyed the opportunity to test himself against the National League’s best. It’s an exam he passed with flying colors.
“Doing it on a big stage, it’s always going be a little more special,” he said. “The game doesn’t really count for the same. But you’re facing guys that across the league, they’re having awesome years. To be able to compare, use that measuring stick, go in and have a successful outing is really something that I’ll always have.”
Miller took in all the All-Star festivities during his time in Arlington, Texas, including the Home Run Derby. While he’s not typically a fan of home runs – unless they’re hit by A’s batters – he made an exception this time.
“Being there in person with all the TV breaks and stuff is a little weird, because it’s just dead time,” he said. “But it’s cool. It’s a super interesting event. I would have liked to have a teammate there competing in it, seeing how into it the guys were that had teammates. That would be what I want to do next time.”
Miller thinks Rooker, for one, would be a perfect fit for the Derby in a future season.
“I like watching our guys hit home runs,” Miller said. “Everybody else, not so much. I would have liked to watch Rook do it. That’s the plan.”
