AL West rival is threatening to join Mariners' Ichiro Suzuki in historic MLB club

Jacob Wilson, the Athletics' rookie shortstop and former first-round pick, is in the middle of a sensational debut campaign, one that’s quietly (or not so quietly, if you’ve been a Seattle Mariners fan) putting him on the verge of history.

With 93 hits already before mid-June, Wilson is on pace to flirt with the elusive 200-hit mark — a feat accomplished by only two rookies in the last 30 years: Nomar Garciaparra in 1997 and, of course, Mariners legend and Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki in 2001.

Wilson is batting .366 overall. It's unlikely he'll maintain at that level but if he does, he'll easily break Ichiro's American League rookie record of .350. He would even come close to George Watkins' overall rookie record of .373 from 1930.

Jacob Wilson could threaten Mariners Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki's rookie records with dominant 2025

That 2001 season was magical for M’s fans, with Ichiro racking up a rookie-record 242 hits, stealing bases with ease, displaying one of the greatest cannons in right field baseball fans have ever seen, and injecting energy into the team every night. Now, nearly a quarter-century later, another rookie is threatening to enter that elite club — this time wearing an A’s uniform, and it stings for Mariner fans.

Wilson has been particularly brutal against the Mariners this season. He’s already walked off against Seattle in gut-punch fashion, and his approach at the plate is eerily advanced for someone in his first MLB season. He’s not just a singles machine either, as he has an impressive .520 slugging percentage. He is spraying it to all fields, and showing elite contact skills that continuously frustrate some of baseball's best.

While he’s projected to finish the season just shy of Ichiro’s rookie hit record with an output of 215 hits, the fact that he’s even in the conversation is jaw-dropping. And what is more concerning for fans in Seattle is that this doesn't seem like a fluke considering the 70-grade hit tool that MLB Pipeline gave him coming into this season.

Wilson’s knack for delivering in big moments make him feel like the kind of player who’s going to torment the Mariners for the next decade. We’ve been through this before with Mike Trout — another division rival who seemingly lives to crush Seattle’s spirits — and Wilson is giving off that same aura.
Mariner fans may need to buckle up for years of frustrating AL West battles with Oakland’s new star at the center of it all.