I’m biased and don’t want to jinx him “but” it feels like Wilson gets it and everyone looks back and says “yea, no” wrong guy got it and how did that happen. I’m sure a lot here were like me, the eye test with Cam was immediate, I’m not going to list all the things he “just does” and are second nature for him inside the lines but you just see it. The 6th tool isn’t teachable…..
Wilson went from .882 OPS last 30 games to .673 last 15 to .381 last 7. Meanwhile Cam is .879 last 30, 1.121 last 15 and 1.089 last 7. SS is a more valuable position, but with Cam's defense and the Astros in contention, frankly it should go to him if the OPS end up the same ... which is entirely possible as the season gap is now only 67pts. Especially as that means one heated up and one cooled off.
It's trending in the right direction. We still have a ton of season left for Cam to run Wilson down. Cam already passed Wilson up in bWAR (2.3 vs 2.0) due to superior defense. Wilson has edge in OPS (0.856 vs 0.789), HR (9 vs 7), RBI (40 vs 33).
He would have to hit like over 20 homeruns in the second half to catch Jacob Wilson. Jacob Wilson is competing with Judge for the batting taitle and hits.
Wilsons OPS is only 67 points higher, it's far from some insurmountable hurdle. Wilsons expected Slg is under .400 for the season, and he only has one extra base hit in the last 3 weeks, I'm betting his slugging numbers drop off hard in the second half. Meanwhile Cam's slugging numbers are picking up a lot.
.340 batting average and 210 hits as a rookie is pretty hard to top unless Cam stats hitting homeruns. Cam would need to continue what he is doing for the last month for the rest of the season. Not impossible if he continues to elevate his hits but it's pretty darn hard.
I remember a time when some posters were critical of Cam's defense and said he was taking bad routes to flyballs.
If Wilsons power number continue to plummet it won't be hard to top. If I were a betting man I think it's more likely than not that Cam has a better OPS by years end. This isn't 1975, batting average is a secondary stat. The fact that Wilson is a SS is the bigger problem. Even with that issue, Cam already has a higher bWAR than Wilson.
It's not the batting average or hits, it's that it's the highest in the league not named Judge. That is why he was named to the all star game ahead of Pena. I rather have Cam on my team but what Wilson is doing is pretty historic. On track to have the highest number of hits for a rookie not name ichiro since before ww2
Eh, he still does sometimes. He’s not a natural RF. He had a really rough defensive series in Sacramento. he hasn’t thrown anyone out all year it doesn’t feel like- even with a pretty strong arm. He is fast and seems to have decent instincts. This is the worse his defense will ever be at RF and that’s kind of exciting.
Cam has MVP potential. With his bat speed, he could potentially hit 50 homeruns while being a gold glove player.
Smith not throwing anybody out isn't on his arm strength or accuracy. Guys dont take chances on Cam's arm.
I’ve seen some that I thought he should have had a chance at. It’s not showing up in the numbers that he’s a stop sign for guys. I think the transfer is a little long/slow.
He certainly wins the rookie of the first half award, nobody is arguing that. If Wilson posts a sub .800 OPS, voters in 2025 will not care that he has 200 hits. If Cams numbers by years end are otherwise more impressive he will pass him. I'm not saying for sure this will happen, but is far from some forgone conclusion or massive uphill battle for Cam to overtake him.
