Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
The Giants put a lot of thought into which prospects would be joining the 60-player pool, the future options deemed too important to allow a year without development slip away.
Will Wilson was happy to hear he was included in that group. And while he’s living a strange life at the moment — home base is across from Oracle Park, his day revolves around the grouping he finds himself in, he rarely wanders out from Oracle Park or his apartment and has taken up a few video games to pass the time — he’s maximizing what a nearly 22-year-old can glean from a few weeks with big leaguers and big-league coaches.
The prize of December’s trade from the Angels, Wilson, a 2019 first-rounder, is loving the time he’s spending with Patrick Bailey, his former NC State teammate who became the Giants’ 2020 first-rounder. But he’s holding onto each moment spent with the veterans.
“I talk to Hunter Pence a lot, and I think his knowledge of the game is tremendous,” Wilson said on a Wednesday phone call, the young righty hitter looking up to the lefty masher about 15 years his elder. “Just talking to him about approaches and his focus and mental aspects of the game. I think I can learn a lot from him just by talking with him.
“I think just going off of the intrasquad games, just how he faces certain pitchers and the zones that he looks in to hit pitches. I think he’s done a tremendous job through his career at being a really disciplined hitter and attacking pitches that are in the zone. So I think that’s something I can pick up on and learn from him.”
These are the types of snapshots into maturation the Giants are counting on from Wilson, who was a late addition to the pool, the middle infielder joining the likes of Bailey, Joey Bart, Marco Luciano, Luis Toribio, Heliot Ramos and Alexander Canario as the possible future of the Giants’ lineup. The former 15th-overall pick has not played above Rookie Ball, but he’ll be around the big-league team for a few more days before continuing his development in Sacramento.
There are the pearls of wisdom Pence may impart, and then there are more tangible things for Wilson to learn. He’s getting individual time in the cage with batting coaches surrounding him, trying to tweak a swing so “the angle and the path that I take through the zone can be a little bit better and consistent.” Less swing-and-miss, less chasing is the goal for a hitter who walked 14 times and struck out 47 in 204 Rookie League plate appearances last year.
He called it a “little bit of a new approach” than his swing with the Angels.
“The Giants are doing some things that I’ve wanted to do with my swing but never been able to do consistently because I didn’t know what things to work on, drill-wise,” said Wilson, whose Wolfpack also landed pitcher Nick Swiney with the Giants in this year’s draft. “And I think they’ve given me things that I can do that are different from what a lot of organizations are doing.”
He has taken advantage of his cage time, saying he’s working on his center of gravity and lower half while pointing to a step-back drill that has been helpful, a la Nolan Arenado.
“Making him move a little bit more efficient on the ball. Working into the ball, not away from the ball,” hitting coach Justin Viele said. “He’s just such a gamer, scrapper-type dude. You’d love to have him in a lineup. You go and watch him for 10 days in a row, and it’s like, Man, that guy helps the team win for sure.
“You might see him one day. And it’s an 0-for-3 with a sac fly and a walk, and you don’t really see it in that one day. But you watch him over the course of a week and a half and you’re like, Oh, yeah, this guy definitely helps the team win every single day.”
Wilson was complimentary of the “tremendous” prospects around him and is trying to measure up. The fact the Giants were willing to eat about $13 million of Zack Cozart’s contract to acquire him and the fact Wilson is in camp suggests they think he belongs.
“Being out here has just been great for me and a great experience to be around a bunch of veteran players and with the coaching staff and just get to know everybody on a different level,” Wilson said. “Come out here and make an impression. Hopefully I’m making a good one.”