Will Wilson, KM’s highest-ever draft pick,
to be inducted into KM Sports Hall of Fame
Former Kings Mountain High and NC State baseball great Will Wilson, now making his mark in professional baseball in the San Francisco Giants organization, will be inducted into the Kings Mountain Sports Hall of Fame Saturday, Oct. 16 at Central United Methodist Church.
The other inductees for the 2021 class are Trina Hamrick Kimble, former basketball star at KMHS, and Monty Deaton, former KMHS standout and KM’s all-time winningest coach in school sports.
Wilson is one of many former Mountaineers to play in the professional ranks. He hopes to be the second joining the late Jake Early, an all-star catcher for the Washington Senators in the 1930s and ‘40s, to make it to the major leagues.
Wilson is KM’s highest-ever major league draft pick, going 15th in the 2019 draft. He was an All-American all three seasons at NC State. He graduated after his junior year. He played second base as a freshman and shortstop as a sophomore and junior, helping lead the Wolfpack to three great seasons.
He mostly plays shortstop in the pros, but plays second base one game every two weeks. At the time of this writing, he had played in 71 games including 46 his rookie year of ’19 and 25 this season. His career stats at that time included 41 runs, 80 hits, 137 total bases, 19 doubles, four triples, 10 home runs, 32 RBI and a .281 batting average.
He has been a winner at every level. His parent club now, the Giants, are leading their division and are considered to be a strong threat for the National League pennant.
Looking back over his career, Wilson said he was fortunate to play on good teams with good coaches.
“My favorite year at Kings Mountain was my senior year when we made a playoff run,” he noted. “We made it to the third round of the state 3A tournament. That was fun to be a part of. It was a special team.”
Unfortunately, the Mountaineers did not win a conference championship during that time, always finishing second to a very good Crest team. Nothing’s changed since as the Chargers are still the team to beat every year in the Big South Conference.
His tradition of playing with winners continued in college.
“We had a really talented ball team at NC State,” he noted, going to the NCAA tournament all three years under veteran coach Elliott Avent.
“He is a good man and a great coach,” Wilson said. “It was a lot of fun to play for him. I played for Matt Bridges all four of my years at Kings Mountain.”
Wilson was an All-Conference shortstop his junior and senior years with the Mountaineers, and All-State his senior season.
“We had a great group of guys,” he said. “We put in a lot of hard work and we had a lot of help and support from the community.”
Some of the other players on that talented team were Thomas Lavin, Matt Absher, John Bell, Bryson Bailey and Brian Lysek.
“It was a solid team,” Wilson said. “We made a strong push for the conference championship but never got it. It was always Crest first and Kings Mountain second.”
Even though last season was cancelled due to COVID, Wilson said his pro experience has been great so far.
“I had a decent start in 2019 with the Angels (the team that originally drafted him) and I was getting the feel of competing at this level and we were playing well,” he said. “But my first full year, 2020, when we were in spring training we got sent home because of the Coronavirus.”
Wilson did get to participate in the Giants alternate training site and the Giants invited him to spring training in 2021.
Overall, Wilson said his pro experience so far has been very good. He’s currently hitting .290 and has hopes that he will be in the majors soon, possibly as early as next season.
“I had a decent start in 2019 with the Angels,” he noted. “I was getting the feel of competing at this level and we were playing well.”
This season will end on September 16, so Wilson hopes he will be able to attend his Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
“We have an Instructional League for a month or so,” he noted, “and in October we have a fall league. I don’t know if I will be involved in that. I hope I would be called up to the big leagues, but more realistically that would probably be next year.”
Wilson said he is excited to be selected to the Kings Mountain Hall of Fame.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “It seems that it wasn’t long ago that I was getting to see Robbie (his uncle) and my dad (Brad) being inducted. I want to thank everybody for selecting me and I hope to be there for this special moment.”
The other inductees for the 2021 class are Trina Hamrick Kimble, former basketball star at KMHS, and Monty Deaton, former KMHS standout and KM’s all-time winningest coach in school sports.
Wilson is one of many former Mountaineers to play in the professional ranks. He hopes to be the second joining the late Jake Early, an all-star catcher for the Washington Senators in the 1930s and ‘40s, to make it to the major leagues.
Wilson is KM’s highest-ever major league draft pick, going 15th in the 2019 draft. He was an All-American all three seasons at NC State. He graduated after his junior year. He played second base as a freshman and shortstop as a sophomore and junior, helping lead the Wolfpack to three great seasons.
He mostly plays shortstop in the pros, but plays second base one game every two weeks. At the time of this writing, he had played in 71 games including 46 his rookie year of ’19 and 25 this season. His career stats at that time included 41 runs, 80 hits, 137 total bases, 19 doubles, four triples, 10 home runs, 32 RBI and a .281 batting average.
He has been a winner at every level. His parent club now, the Giants, are leading their division and are considered to be a strong threat for the National League pennant.
Looking back over his career, Wilson said he was fortunate to play on good teams with good coaches.
“My favorite year at Kings Mountain was my senior year when we made a playoff run,” he noted. “We made it to the third round of the state 3A tournament. That was fun to be a part of. It was a special team.”
Unfortunately, the Mountaineers did not win a conference championship during that time, always finishing second to a very good Crest team. Nothing’s changed since as the Chargers are still the team to beat every year in the Big South Conference.
His tradition of playing with winners continued in college.
“We had a really talented ball team at NC State,” he noted, going to the NCAA tournament all three years under veteran coach Elliott Avent.
“He is a good man and a great coach,” Wilson said. “It was a lot of fun to play for him. I played for Matt Bridges all four of my years at Kings Mountain.”
Wilson was an All-Conference shortstop his junior and senior years with the Mountaineers, and All-State his senior season.
“We had a great group of guys,” he said. “We put in a lot of hard work and we had a lot of help and support from the community.”
Some of the other players on that talented team were Thomas Lavin, Matt Absher, John Bell, Bryson Bailey and Brian Lysek.
“It was a solid team,” Wilson said. “We made a strong push for the conference championship but never got it. It was always Crest first and Kings Mountain second.”
Even though last season was cancelled due to COVID, Wilson said his pro experience has been great so far.
“I had a decent start in 2019 with the Angels (the team that originally drafted him) and I was getting the feel of competing at this level and we were playing well,” he said. “But my first full year, 2020, when we were in spring training we got sent home because of the Coronavirus.”
Wilson did get to participate in the Giants alternate training site and the Giants invited him to spring training in 2021.
Overall, Wilson said his pro experience so far has been very good. He’s currently hitting .290 and has hopes that he will be in the majors soon, possibly as early as next season.
“I had a decent start in 2019 with the Angels,” he noted. “I was getting the feel of competing at this level and we were playing well.”
This season will end on September 16, so Wilson hopes he will be able to attend his Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
“We have an Instructional League for a month or so,” he noted, “and in October we have a fall league. I don’t know if I will be involved in that. I hope I would be called up to the big leagues, but more realistically that would probably be next year.”
Wilson said he is excited to be selected to the Kings Mountain Hall of Fame.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “It seems that it wasn’t long ago that I was getting to see Robbie (his uncle) and my dad (Brad) being inducted. I want to thank everybody for selecting me and I hope to be there for this special moment.”