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| Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson likes kids. That's why he agreed to work baseball camps in Southern California in the winter in the first place. A lot of people helped him along the way. Why not give something back to the game?But why did the little brats have to ask so many questions?What team do you play for?Did they really have to laugh when he said the Pirates?What did you hit last season?"I was embarrassed to tell them," Wilson said.Are there going to be any real big-leaguers here tomorrow?Kids really can be cruel."It was a tough winter," Wilson was saying yesterday after playing a big part in the Pirates' 3-2 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers. "It should have been the best time of my life. I had made it to the big leagues. I had made a little money for the first time in my life. I was back home with my buddies ... "But I was miserable, absolutely miserable."That's what hitting .223 for a team that loses 100 games will do to a guy."You have a season like that, you ask yourself, 'Is it going to be like this the rest of my career?'" Wilson said. "If you keep hitting .220, it probably won't be a long career. I knew I had to do something."Are you getting the idea this isn't going to be another "Operation Shutdown" story?"The first thing I knew I had to do was get in the weight room and get stronger, not just for now but for later in the season," Wilson said. "I hit a pretty big wall last year."That's his explanation for the 50-point drop in his batting average after July 13."The other thing I had to do was get a better idea about hitting in the No. 8 hole," Wilson said. "Hitting in front of the pitcher, you're not going to see too many fastballs. Pitchers are going to try to get you to bite on breaking balls or off-speed stuff, maybe even out of the zone. They want you way out ahead and want to get you out with a weak ground ball. I'm on to that now. I'm looking for those pitches a lot more than I did last season."It happened in the sixth inning yesterday. Instead of guessing fastball from Dodgers starter Hideo Nomo -- the pitch a hitter usually gets on a 2-0 count -- Wilson looked for a forkball and got it, driving in what turned out to be the winning run with a two-out single to left field. It's been happening a lot lately. He has gone 10 for 22 during a seven-game hitting streak to raise his average to .268, offense the Pirates have badly needed with Jason Kendall, Kevin Young and Adrian Brown struggling to hit their weight.If nothing else, it proves Wilson is tough. His 3-for-28 start this season could have destroyed him -- or at least gotten him sent back to Class AAA Nashville."It was hard because of the way things went last year and even harder because my wife and son are back home in California," Wilson said. "I haven't seen them since the birth March 30. I'd call my wife every night and say, 'I need you guys here. I can't deal with this alone.' But they couldn't come. I'd end up sitting by myself in our empty place and sulk all night."Wilson and his wife, Julie, hatched a plan for her and their son, Jacob, to join him in Denver when the Pirates play the Colorado Rockies next week. That gave him something to look forward to personally and something to shoot for professionally."I sure didn't want to be hitting .170 when I saw my family."Julie Wilson probably won't recognize her husband the hitter. She won't recognize the first-place Pirates, either. Jack Wilson's defense is a big reason for their shocking 13-7 start. He made another fine play yesterday, fielding a ball in the hole in the eighth inning and shoveling a pass to third baseman Mike Benjamin in time to get Cesar Izturis, who was trying to advance from second.Wilson's defense will last all season. It will be worth watching the games just to see what he and Pokey Reese, who's on the disabled list, do around second base.What Wilson has to do is prove he can keep hitting."I certainly think he's capable of being a .270 hitter," Pirates Manager Lloyd McClendon said. "And as he keeps growing and getting stronger and keeps learning the league, I think he'll hit double-digit home runs, maybe around 10 or 12. I don't think he's too far from that point right now."Those numbers wouldn't be the least bit embarrassing.Maybe Wilson will have a different kind of problem with those California campers next winter.Kids, please, no more autographs until after we do the drills ... |
| Cook: Wilson a happy camper with his improved hitting Friday, April 26, 2002 |
| In spring training, Jack Wilson let it slip that he wanted to hit second in the batting order.But Manager Lloyd McClendon wanted to take advantage of Pokey Reese's speed at the top of the order and had Wilson bat eighth. It stayed that way for a while, until he discovered Reese had a higher average when hitting eighth and Wilson could be a table setter in the Pirates' lineup.Going into the interleague game with the Anaheim Angels last night, Wilson had nine hits in his past 17 at-bats. He had seven multihit games in his past 11 outings and raised to average to .262 -- up 75 points in the past 22 games. That coincides with his move up in the batting order. So far this month, Wilson is hitting .483, second among all major-leaguers to Florida's Derek Lee at .519."When you have guys like [Jason] Kendall, [Brian] Giles and [Aramis] Ramirez hitting behind you, it's almost like a compliment to hit second," Wilson said. "They're great hitters and they're going to drive people in. They're looking for you to get on base or move the leadoff guy over. It's a tough job to do. I enjoy doing it when I'm getting it done."A No. 2 hitter might get four or five at-bats per game, whereas the eighth spot might only get three or four, and the extra opportunity can make all the difference between success and failure in a game.More important, Wilson sees a more fastballs and more strikes at No. 2 because pitchers are hardly eager to walk him with Kendall and Giles coming after him."You get a little bit better pitches, I guess," Wilson said. "Hitting in eight hole, you get a lot more [junk] with the pitcher behind you."With the Pirates' offense sputtering, McClendon was searching and groping for any combination that would provide a spark. He hasn't been disappointed with what Wilson has done."That spot seems to have fit him well. He's done a good job for us there," McClendon said. "He handles the bat well. He likes hitting and running, bunting for hits, sacrificing, things of that nature. A lot of times, positive outs can get you going as well as base hits. He's done some positive things outside of the hits in that spot. I think he likes it."McClendon also believes Wilson has become a more patient hitter batting second. "He's going deep into counts. He's using the whole field. He's getting a lot of hits to the opposite field and back up the middle."Wilson had a walk, double and single in his first three plate appearances in the Pirates' 4-3 loss Monday to the Angels. But he missed a chance to be come through in his fourth appearance.The Pirates rallied for three runs in the seventh inning, and Wilson had a chance to deliver with the tying run on third base and two outs. He hit a line drive, but right at Angels second baseman Benji Gil. The Pirates didn't threaten again and fell to 12-24 on the road in interleague play."Once I hit it, I knew it was caught," Wilson said. "It drains you. You feel that feeling in your hands, like you hit it real hard. You see trajectory. You know it's a line drive. Then you see where the guy's standing. And you know right off the bat, you're unlucky right there."Wilson is probably feeling a little more lucky than he felt at times last season as a rookie. He was sent to Class AAA Nashville after hitting .155 in his first 19 games a year ago. He built his confidence back up and was recalled June 12, the day after General Manager Cam Bonifay was fired.When he was called back up, Wilson started to hit. Within a month, his average climbed 118 points to .273.But Wilson slipped badly in the season's final month. He was 5 for 37 in his final 10 games to end his season on a sour note. That disappointing finish prompted him to work out with a personal trainer over the winter. He is 25 pounds heavier this season.The memory is also motivation enough to keep him in the weight room a couple of times a week."I don't want what happened last year, when you just hit a wall and nothing goes for you and you end up hitting .223 after being successful in the middle of the year. That's exactly what I don't want to do," Wilson said."I'm going to have to start hitting weights a little more. I was having a decent year going into last month, and that just killed me. My main goal this year is to get to a certain spot and be consistent." |
| Batting second a big lift for Wilson Wednesday, June 12, 2002By Robert Dvorchak |