Rangers All Star Profile: C.J. Wilson

2011 marks the second season for C. J. Wilson as a starting pitcher. You’ll recall that C.J. had been a closer and relief pitcher in the seasons before. The left-hander sits in 8^th place of Rangers all-time Saves leaders with 52. He finally talked the Rangers staff into giving him a chance to start and it paid off. CJ was selected to the 2011 MLB All-Star Game in Arizona, the first selection of his career.

Wilson was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the fifth round of the 2001 amateur draft. This season he is getting paid 7.05 million and will be a free-agent at the end of the year.

This year C.J. has a record of 9 and 3 and an ERA of 3.20. His strikeout-to-walk ratio this season is much improved at 2.79. His WHIP this season (Walks-plus-hits per innings pitched) is down as well at 1.205.

Wilson entered the season as the Ace of the pitching staff and has held that title proudly. The Rangers will try desperately to hang on to C.J. as he will be looking for a multi-year deal. You can imagine with the lack of pitching free agents this upcoming off season, how many teams will go after Wilson. Especially if he is able to post a 20 win season, he should prove to be a true commodity.

Off the field C.J. is a true All-Star in the DFW community. We talked about his charitable endeavors before on the site. His annual “Strike Out” bowling tournament was another big success raising money for Cook Children’s Hospital.

Rest of the Season Prediction:

I predict that C.J. will go on to earn 18 wins in total. He will come up big when needed and help drive the Rangers into a playoff spot.

As far as his free-agency, I don’t expect him to return with the Rangers. Wilson is a Southern California boy, and I would expect him to sign with either the Angels or Dodgers (assuming their ownership structure is secure). We have seen the Rangers’ ownership group be aggressive, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they can hold on to him – and I would love to be surprised.

Congrats to C.J. on his All-Star bid, we will be watching closely on Tuesday and throughout the rest of the season!

-Jonathan