Baseball is more than a game for Thad Wilson
Thaddeus Wilson looks at the game of baseball a little differently than anyone else on the field.
At Glendale High, Glendale Community College and now at San Francisco State University, the 21-year-old Wilson stands tall with a knowledge of the game that comes from an unlikely coaching background he gained while attending GCC. He was the junior varsity head baseball coach at his alma mater during his redshirt season for the Vaqs in 2016. "That experience offered me a new perspective on how I approach the game as a player. I look at things situationally now, like I can see things developing before they happen,'' Wilson said. "As an infielder I feel like I have a vantage point that gives me a heads up. I like talking to umpires about different things, about pitches, whether they are balls and strikes and just developing a rapport with them.''
He doesn't necessarily consider himself a coach in the making but rather a high school teacher for 10th and 11th graders, an age group he considers critical to the development of young people, much like it was for him several years ago. He said that he was not a recruited player out of high school, but through the recommendation of former GCC assistant Chris Casey and former GHS Head Baseball Coach Spiro Psaltis, made a commitment to become a Vaquero.
"Thad left a legacy of resilience, commitment, and grit here at Glendale. Arriving on campus as an unrecruited player he was promptly redshirted. That year, he came to every practice while trying to improve his game, make academic progress, hold down a job, and coach at his alma mater Glendale HS," said Interim Head Baseball Coach Alex Kocol. "When he returned the following year it was not immediately evident that he would have a meaningful role. Yet, on opening day, Thad emerged as our lead off hitter because of his toughness and persistence. Immediately, our program took a big step forward as his ability to conceptualize hitting and share information with his teammates was elite. Thad hit lead off every game for two years and not only produced but made everyone around him better. His leadership came to personify the never quit mentality of the back-to-back conference championship teams in 2017 and 2018. An absolute grinder and winner, Thad represents exactly what it means to be a Vaquero.''
One of several GCC players who transferred to San Francisco State in 2019, Wilson made the team for the fall ball season and was starting to make an impact for the team before the season was suspended. In 14 games, nine as a starter, he was hitting .289 with 11 hits in 38 at bats, one home run and five RBI. As an All-WSC player for the Vaqs in 2018, Wilson helped lead the team to win the WSC title and hit .335 in 35 games, hit one home run with 15 RBI and stole 12 bases and scored 31 runs.
Wilson hopes to graduate in the fall with a degree in communications and play potentially his last season of competitive baseball in the spring of 2021 in San Francisco. But if his baseball career as a player ends at that point, he will have plenty of opportunities in front of him and he knows exactly how to take advantage of what is in front of him.