The Oakland Athletics beat the Los Angeles Angels 13-3 on Friday night but lost top prospect Jacob Wilson to a left hamstring strain in his major league debut.
Wilson, the A’s first-round pick in 2023 and top prospect according to MLB.com, left the game after straining his hamstring while scoring on Lawrence Butler‘s two-run triple in the third. Wilson, who had just singled in his first career at-bat, was visibly frustrated in the dugout in between innings, stretching out his hamstring before leaving the game with a trainer.
Wilson, 22, also missed more than a month with a knee injury at Triple-A Las Vegas earlier this season. He was hitting over .400 in the minors.
“It was pretty horrible,” Wilson said of leaving the game. “This is a day that you’ve been working for your entire life and I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time now. I had three innings there where I can say it was the high moment of my life right there.”
Wilson added that it was “better safe than sorry” for him to come out early. He said getting his first hit was “definitely a moment that you’ll remember for the rest of your life.”
Manager Mark Kotsay hopes that Wilson just has a minor strain, but took him out of the game once he saw the infielder take the field in the fourth.
“There’s no reason for us to push that kid when there’s a lower half injury that can get any worse by having to make a play for us or by not being able to make a play — and hurting the team,” Kotsay said. “From that standpoint, I admire the kid’s passion and desire to be on the field but at that point, it’s my job to make that decision.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.