Prospect Spotlight- Marcus Wilson

Marcus Wilson is a 23 year-old outfielder who is currently assigned to AA Portland. Wilson, who was added to the 40-man roster last November, had a solid showing this spring. While his numbers won't blow anyone out of the water, he more than held his own against solid competition.  

2020 Spring Training

Year	Tm	Age	G	PA	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OppQual
2020	BOS	23	9	20	19	3	5	1	3	1	7	.263	.300	.421	.721	7.0

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Wilson was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2nd round of the 2014 MLB draft. Described as a raw talent with five-tool potential, he had an unremarkable start to his professional career slashing .243/.360/.327 with only 3 home runs in his first three seasons. He finally broke out in 2017 when he slashed .295/.383/.446 and hit 9 home runs in 103 games for full-season A Kane County. As a result, Wilson jumped up the rankings, with MLB Pipeline ranking him as the Diamondbacks' 7^th best prospect in 2018. 

After his breakout year, Wilson began to struggle again. He hit .235 with a .678 OPS with A+ Visalia in 2018. He got off to a good start in 2019 after putting up an .879 OPS in 12 games in AA, but then he was traded to the Red Sox for Blake Swihart.

The struggles then continued with Boston, as Wilson slashed .161/.307/.226 in his first 19 games in AA Portland. Wilson was admittedly "trying to do too much" and "got into [his] head", and was demoted to A+ Salem as a result. Things then began to click again as Wilson went on to hit .342 with a 1.016 OPS and 8 home runs over the next 45 games. He was recalled back to AA Portland on July 14^th where he continued to put up impressive numbers. He finished 2019 with a .269 batting average, .850 OPS, and 18 home runs between AA Jackson, AA Portland, and A+ Salem. 

After the end of the regular season, Wilson was sent to play in the Arizona Fall League, where he went 10-30 with 1 home run and a .878 OPS. He was named as one of the Fall League's break out prospects by MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo. After his successful 2019, the Red Sox decided to protect Wilson from the Rule 5 draft by adding him to the 40-man roster. 

Though Wilson has had his ups and downs throughout his professional career, he has shown that he has the ability to get on base at a high rate- whether he's hitting or not. This will be a good base for him going forward as he continues to develop his hit and in-game power tools. Once described as a potential five-tool player, Wilson has shown flashes of all his tools throughout his career. After bringing it them all together in the second half of 2019, he will look to keep it rolling heading into 2020.


On March 8^th Wilson was re-assigned to AA Portland from big league camp. Depending on the injury status of the outfielders in Boston, Wilson could potentially be one of the first outfielders called up this year. However, if he continues to play like a five-tool player, he may force his way into the big leagues before the end of the year. 

Hello. 

Here’s Marcus Wilson taking a lap after a 3-run bomb! pic.twitter.com/0BIUx5Lkz0

— Red Sox (@RedSox) March 2, 2020