Russell Wilson goes yard. Should Seahawks fans worry?

Russell Wilson went deep in spring training today, and he went deep a lot. Should 12s worry that he’s launching a new career?

It’s certainly old news by now that Russell Wilson was traded to the New York Yankees. What isn’t old news is that he went deep today. He went back back back back back. Yes, Wilson went yard five times today. He put the old horsehide in the cheap seats. He deposited the small white spheroid beyond the proscribed dimensions of the field of play. Often.

Could this interest the Yankees in Russell Wilson as something other than a spring training curiosity? Let’s think about this. Wilson doesn’t have a lot of experience on the diamond, it’s true. But it’s also true he’s a phenomenal athlete. Wilson plays a demanding defensive position, second base. And he displayed excellent power today, especially for that position.

To get a better picture of his potential, we’ll take a look at his most recent stats. He actually played better than a quick glance shows. No, really. Russell Wilson was pretty darn good.

Seattle Seahawks

If you just look at his average, well, that stinks. He only hit .229 over two seasons. Ah, but batting average is just one piece of a player’s offense. A good baseball player needs to do two things: get on base to score runs, and drive people in that are on base. Wilson’s low batting average accounted for just a small part of his skill.

Russell Wilson can actually play – with qualifications

He only had 72 hits in 379 at bats. But he also drew 51 walks. That gave him a decent on base percentage of .354 for his career. For a few comparisons, Dee Gordon is considered a pretty good leadoff hitter. His career on base percentage is just .329. Ichiro, one of baseball’s best pure hitters ever, has a career on base percentage of .355. That”s pretty good company, right?

Both Gordon and Ichiro are exceptional base thieves as well. Gordon has stolen 278 bases so far, at a 77 percent success rate. Ichiro is even better, with 509 base thefts at a rate of 81 percent. In his second season, Russell Wilson stole 15 bases and was only caught twice. He was successful 88 percent of the time.

I’ll grant you, as a rookie he only stole four bases and was caught six times. But in his first two seasons in Japan, Ichiro only nabbed three out of seven. Gordon is a bit of a mutant, because he stole 18 and was only caught 5 times as a rookie in the minors. Still, the point is that Wilson has a lot more skill than his average shows.

Defensively, Wilson showed quite a bit of promise at second base. His range factor per nine innings, a measurement of how many batted balls he turned into outs, was 5.15 in his second season. Dee Gordon’s best season? 5.15. Gordon’s career average at second base is 4.75.

Nah – just kidding

Now it’s time to let everyone relax. As I wrote earlier, there’s a world of difference between Double A ball, which is the highest level Wilson ever reached, and the majors. There’s a world of difference between a 23 year old, which is how old Wilson was when he last played a real game, and a 29 year old who hasn’t swung a bat in a meaningful appearance in seven years. Okay, spring training means a lot to him, certainly, but you get what I mean.

Did I mention Wilson hit these homers in batting practice? Yeah, Wilson destroyed five Rawlings orbs in BP, where everyone hits home runs. He is not a prospect in any sense. He’s just out there having fun.

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In another sense, 12s might have reason to worry about Russell Wilson playing baseball. All we need is for our MVP candidate quarterback to get beaned, or tear a quad legging out a triple, right? Don’t even begin to worry, 12s. Wilson won’t see live game action. He’s just there to live out a dream. Then again… maybe the Mariners could use this guy.