With the Super Bowl happening just this past weekend, the NFL season has finally wrapped up. Once again, superstar QB Russell Wilson lead his Seahawks into the the big game. There is no doubt that he is a great quarterback, but he is (or was) also a great baseball player. For those of you who don’t know, Wilson actually is a member of the Texas Rangers even today. If he didn’t play football, he likely could play professional baseball instead (and even has before).
Of course, he doesn’t anymore, but can’t we just imagine for a moment?
What if Russell Wilson Picked Baseball Instead
Obviously Wilson is a great athlete, and is really built to play baseball, which would obviously be huge for him on the diamond. His 40-yd dash was a rather impressive 4.55, and he also had a 34-inch vertical jump. Could you imagine a guy with 4.55 speed and a vertical almost identical to Dwight Howard’s (Yes, 2008 slam dunk champion Dwight Howard) playing second base? He’d have great coverage up the middle and it would be awfully difficult to get line drives past him. His size is just about perfect for a middle infielder as well. At just under six feet tall and weighing in at 206 lbs, Wilson is almost the same size as the four-time Gold Glove winner Brandon Phillips. As we watch him on the gridiron it’s clear that he has outstanding athleticism, and his size would translate well from the football field to the baseball field. Yet there is still the question of whether or not he has what it takes ability-wise to play MLB baseball.
While we can’t get a definite answer for that now that he plays in the NFL, we can still take a look at his college and minor league numbers to see how they match-up with some of today’s top-flight prospects. Wilson’s college numbers at NC State were very impressive (especially for someone who was primarily a football player). He had a .282/.384/.415 slash-line with 5 home runs and 30 RBI in his college career. After being drafted by the Rockies in 2011, he played for the Tri-City Dust Devils and the Asheville Tourists, both single-A teams in the Rockies organization. His career slash-line in the minors was .229/.354/.356 and he hit five home runs along with stealing 19 bases.
Sure, those numbers aren’t incredible, but for the most part they are still nothing to scoff at. When you compare some of the numbers to top prospects in baseball today, there are actually a few spots where Wilson looks pretty darn good. For instance, if you compare him to fellow middle infielder Francisco Lindor (the number four prospect according to MLB.com) he had a higher OBP than Lindor’s 2014 OBP, which was .338. He also had a decent batting average compared to Lindor’s 2014 average of .276.
In reality, the chances of Russell Wilson being an MLB player are slim-to-none. His baseball career was short-lived, and it was not as successful as his NFL career has been. However, it could be argued that his baseball ability would be better, and he could even possibly be a great player, had he put all his time into baseball instead of football. No matter what the numbers say, Wilson would be fun to watch on a big-league baseball team. He is an athletic guy who plays much bigger than his actual height, and he never fails to impress. He was doubted when he entered the NFL but proved his doubters wrong, and because of that I can’t help but think that he would have more than exceeded expectations if he had pursued a career in baseball.
Wilson is an inspirational athlete who had the potential to be a great baseball player. While it’s highly doubtful we’ll ever see him play a game in the big-leagues, the idea of a superstar athlete who proves his doubters wrong and is in the prime of his life just like Russ is an idea that makes you wish Wilson had taken a different life path. Perhaps he’ll one day decide he wants to jump on that field for the Rangers, even if it’s just one time.
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