Craig Wilson

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For other uses, see: Craig Wilson (disambiguation).

**Craig Wilson**
Major League Baseball debut
Atlanta Braves — No. N/A
First Baseman
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
April 22, 2001 for the Pittsburgh Pirates
Selected MLB statistics (through 2006)
Batting average	.265
Runs scored	297
Home runs	98
Former teams
Pittsburgh Pirates (2001-2006) New York Yankees (2006)

Craig Allan Wilson (born November 30, 1976) is a first baseman who currently plays for the Atlanta Braves of the National League. As of the end of the 2006 season, Wilson had a career .265 batting average with 98 home runs and 290 runs batted in (RBI) in 674 games.

1 Early career
2 Major-league career
3 Career Statistics
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Early career

A native of Fountain Valley, California, Wilson played high school ball at Marina High School in Huntington Beach, California, and was drafted as a catcher out of high school by the Toronto Blue Jays. The Pirates acquired the rights to Wilson before the 1997 season, and gradually moved him to first base and the outfield. After several years in the minor leagues, Wilson was called up to the big-league club in 2001.

[edit] Major-league career

Craig Wilson was one of many Pirates to have been depicted in bobblehead form

After three years as a role player and pinch-hitter, Wilson played regularly in 2004, hitting .264 with 29 home runs and 82 RBI in 155 games, but posting a franchise-record 169 strikeouts in 561 at-bats. He led the major leagues at being hit by pitches in 2002 (21) and 2004 (30). Wilson tied the major league single-season record for pinch-hit home runs with 7 in 2001.

In 2005, Wilson played in only 59 games as a result of two separate hand injuries that caused him to spend over half the season on the disabled list, playing in only 5 games between May 6 and August 28. Neither injury is expected to have any long-term effect on his play. He ended the season with a .264 average, 5 home runs, and 22 RBI in 197 at-bats.

Through Wilson's career as a Pirate, he had frequently been dogged by trade rumors. In 2006, with the acquisition of Jeromy Burnitz, members of the Pittsburgh press asserted that the Pirates, despite Wilson's relative success, were trying to trade him. At the trade deadline of the 2006 season, Wilson was traded to the Yankees for Shawn Chacon. According to the New York Post, at least one general manager in the National League found the deal inexplicable from the Pirates' standpoint. Voicing the opinion that Pirates GM Dave Littlefield had undersold Wilson, the anonymous GM was quoted as saying, "We really thought Wilson was a guy a lot of AL teams would be interested in. He is a high strikeout guy, but he can hit a fastball, damage lefty pitching, and not embarrass himself in right field or at first."^[1]

Overall in 2006, Craig batted .251 with 17 home runs and 49s. Though he only batted 359 times, he struck out 122 times. The Yankees didn't re-sign him, causing him to become a free agent.

The Atlanta Braves acquired and agreed to term on a one-year contract with Wilson on January 18, 2007.