Athletics lock up All-Star shortstop Jacob Wilson with 7-year, $70M deal

All-Star shortstop Jacob Wilson and the Athletics reached agreement on a seven-year contract that includes a club option for an eighth season, the team announced Friday, adding another premium young player to an impressive core as the franchise prepares to move to Las Vegas.

The contract is worth $70 million, sources told ESPN.

Wilson, 23, finished second in American League Rookie of the Year voting last season after hitting .311/.355/.444 with 13 home runs and 63 RBIs in 125 games. The award went to teammate Nick Kurtz, the centerpiece for the offensive machine the A’s have quietly built.

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In addition to Wilson and Kurtz, All-Star designated hitter Brent Rooker and outfielders Tyler Soderstrom and Lawrence Butler are under contract until at least 2030. Though Kurtz has not signed a contract extension, Wilson and Soderstrom are under team control through 2033, Butler through 2032 and Rooker through 2030.

After going to the A’s with the sixth pick in the 2023 draft out of Grand Canyon University — where his father, longtime big league shortstop Jack Wilson, coached — Wilson teed off on minor league pitching, hitting .393/.439/.601 and debuting barely a year after he was selected.

With exceptional bat-to-ball skills, Wilson stamped himself as a likely future batting champion last season and spent much of the year atop the AL batting average leaderboard. His power output surprised evaluators, who were concerned Wilson’s desire for contact — he struck out just 39 times in 523 plate appearances last year — would limit his home runs.

Wilson’s all-fields approach fit perfectly in an A’s lineup that has plenty of slugging, with five players hitting at least 20 home runs last season. The A’s, who added second baseman Jeff McNeil via trade and signed reliever Mark Leiter Jr. to a one-year deal this winter, intend to ride their offense into contention with the hope that top pitching prospects Jamie Arnold and Gage Jump can join the rotation in the near future.

The team enters its second year in Sacramento, where it plans to spend three seasons before its new Las Vegas stadium’s planned opening in 2028. Owner John Fisher agreed to move the team to Las Vegas from Oakland, where it had played since 1968, and he has expanded this year’s payroll to an estimated $90 million. The highest A’s Opening Day payroll ever was $92.2 million in 2019.