Wilson ready to parlay busy offseason into '26 success

This story was excerpted from Martín Gallegos' A's Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

WEST SACRAMENTO -- Jacob Wilson has had a busy offseason.

For the second consecutive year, Wilson spent his winter working out at the A’s Spring Training complex in Mesa, Ariz., under the supervision of strength and conditioning coach Josh Cuffe as he looks to build on a spectacular rookie campaign that saw the Athletics shortstop finish runner-up to teammate Nick Kurtz in American League Rookie of the Year voting and second to Yankees superstar Aaron Judge for the batting title with a .311 average.

In the middle of all that preparation, Wilson and his A’s teammates shared some big life moments together. First up was Tyler Soderstrom’s wedding in Hawaii in November. About one month later, Wilson tied the knot with his fiancée, Logan, in Arizona.

In town earlier this month to partake in several fan events throughout the Sacramento area, Wilson touched on those topics and more. Here are some of the highlights:

On the team celebrating two weddings this offseason, including his own

“It was awesome. It’s awesome to have your closest friends there, your teammates. It was a big year for us. Being able to connect with everybody was awesome. We got to celebrate Soderstrom’s wedding. That was a blast. Then, I had my own, and all my teammates showed up. It was a great time. We loved it. Having the support of your teammates is huge.”

On the challenge of pitchers making adjustments after his first full season in the Majors

“I don’t really like looking into it too much. It’s just something that I’ve always done. I know that they have a scouting report on me, but we also have a scouting report on them. … It’s like a little cat-and-mouse game. I’m just going to keep trying to do the same thing. I’ll obviously learn and prepare myself as much as I can to face these guys. It’s going to be a fun year.”

On teaming up with veteran second baseman Jeff McNeil as double-play partners

“It’s awesome. I have a lot of respect for him and the career he’s had. He’s been very successful. He’s a veteran guy that we’re excited to have in our clubhouse. I think there’s going to be, hopefully, very few strikeouts coming from us two. It’s going to be fun to have two guys that are just going to go up there and be pesky outs, being able to foul off multiple pitches. Seeing 10 pitches in an at-bat is huge to get starting pitchers out of the game faster. I think he brings that to our lineup. I think it’s going to be pretty fun to learn from him and see how he goes about his work and prepares to be a big leaguer every day. I’m excited to learn from him.”

On strengthening his body this winter ahead of the 2026 season

“It’s definitely been the main focus for the last couple of offseasons now. Being able to grow into my body a little bit more and put on more muscle. I’ve been at the A’s facility for the entire offseason now, working with the strength staff to get stronger and prepare my body for the long season ahead.”

Is high school teammate Max Muncy ready to step in as the A’s everyday third baseman if needed?

“I think so. I’ve known him for a long time, going back to playing high school baseball together. I’ve seen him work throughout the entire offseason. He’s very dedicated. … I know he has the capability of doing it.”

On what was learned from last year’s grueling stretch in which the A’s lost 20 of 21 games from May 14-June 4

“That time period sucked for our team. Losing that many games is something you never want to do. At the same time, with every negative thing that comes with baseball, it’s a giant learning period. So, just being able to learn how to get out of that, we had a lot of young guys here this past year who debuted or were playing their first year. It’s kind of hard getting out of that little team slump when a lot of guys are still trying to get used to playing in the big leagues every day. That was a huge learning curve for us, and I think that was the main goal for everyone going into the offseason. Be better baseball players so that doesn’t happen again. Next year, if we start going that path, which every team goes through a losing period at some point, but I think we know how to get out of it pretty fast now, just because we’ve already dealt with it.”