While Will Wilson was playing on the NC State baseball team, one of the school's fan websites dubbed him "The Mayor of King's Mountain", which his small hometown located in the western part of the state.
The Mayor of Kings Mountain, Will Wilson, singles as the UNC LF misreads the ball. Run scores. Bases loaded with no outs in T5. Pack, 3-0.
— Pack Pride (@PackPride) April 16, 2017
The nickname is still popular with the local college baseball crowd, but has not really caught on with people outside of the area. Regardless, I am enjoying the fact that Wilson appeared in several different 2020 products. I recently picked up two of those cards, including one with his new team.
Old team first.
This is Wilson's card out of this year's Topps Heritage Minors. The Orem Owlz (Z is for stupid) are an Angels Minor League team. The Halos picked him out of NC State in the first round of the 2019 Draft. For whatever reason, the Angels traded him last off-season to the Giants for Zack Cozart.
I am sure that this photo would have probably been different if there had been Minor League Baseball this season. The back of the card gives mention of his time in Raleigh.
I think he's going to be at minimum a solid Major League Baseball player.
Now, for a card with his new team.
I used to really hate Bowman Sterling. It supposed to be some sort of high end Bowman brand product, but for a long time it had sticker autographs. This is actually a really nice card, and I love that the signature is signed on the card, not on a sticker.
These were the last two Wilson autographed cards that were on my list to find for this year, so I will give his cards a break until next summer.
"I think he's going to be at minimum a solid Major League Baseball player." You heard it here first, kids. Invest while you can! :)
ReplyDeleteI roll my eyes at people who like a Minor League player, or draftee, and hail them as a superstar while they are playing in A Ball, or at times never played outside of the amateur level. "Solid everyday player at a minimum" is my ceiling on people not in the Majors. I have burned by the Delmon Young's of the world a few too many times.
DeleteGiants prospect huh. I'll have to listen for his name on local sports radio from this point moving forward. I really like the look of the Heritage Minors autograph... and that Wilson made the effort to sign on the white of his jersey.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Owlz... I purchased a signed Roger Clemens bobblehead from their team store a couple of years ago. Crazy thing is... I'm not even sure he ever played for them.
DeleteI noticed that he signed over the white too. Always makes we wonder when players are consider enough to do that, if they have collected cards at some point in their life. Clemens never played for the Owlz. They are a more recent team, I believe that they share a stadium with BYU. Kind of been a trend over the last decade with Minor League teams. There are a few dozen teams that do it. The Durham Bulls started letting Duke play their February and March games at their stadium. I am sure it's a good extra revenue stream, schools probably chip money for maintenance.