Former Little League star ‘Tugboat’ Wilkinson navigating first MLB season with Giants

The Tugboat is enjoying a new port of call closer to home.

Matt Wilkinson — who’s carried the nickname “Tugboat” since he was a boy playing baseball in his hometown of Ladner, B.C. — has been pitching for the San Francisco Giants for three weeks in his debut Major League Baseball season. Drafted in the 10th round of the 2023 MLB Draft by the Cleveland Guardians, the six-foot-one, 250-pound Wilkinson was traded to San Francisco in May.

“First thing I thought when I was traded, I was just happy to be back on the West Coast, not far from Vancouver,” said Wilkinson, who made his MLB debut with the Giants in Cleveland against the Guardians on Aug. 19. “I’m not saying I wasn’t a fan of Cleveland, but it was just far away from home.”

Wilkinson rose to prominence as the stud pitcher for a youth team from White Rock, B.C., at the 2015 Little League World Series. At age 13, he struck out 16 batters over five innings in Canada’s 1-0 loss to Mexico (one batter reached first on a dropped third strike).

He then went to Foothills Composite High School in Okotoks, Alta., before playing collegiate baseball at Central Arizona College. He was named the National Junior College Athletic Association’s Division I pitcher of the year in 2023 after posting a 1.07 earned-run average and 138 strikeouts in 84 innings. Cleveland drafted him 308th overall later that year.

Wilkinson quickly became a phenomenon in the Guardians’ minor-league system.

He only pitched one inning for Cleveland’s rookie-league team in 2023 — recording three strikeouts, naturally — but was lights out in 2024 with a 1.90 ERA and 174 strikeouts over 118 2/3 innings across two single-A leagues.

In 2025, Wilkinson spent the entire season with single-A Lake County, going 4-9 in 25 starts with 117 strikeouts over 104 innings. On May 9, the Guardians traded Wilkinson and a compensatory pick in this year’s draft to the Giants for major league catcher Patrick Bailey.

Wilkinson said the transition from Cleveland to San Francisco has been smooth.

“You can’t really complain about it. The Giants were welcoming with open arms,” he said, adding that he has already learned a great deal from San Francisco bullpen coach Jesse Chavez, an 18-year MLB veteran who spent two seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays. 

“I learned a lot from the Guardians that I could take over that I can do on a day-to-day basis, and I’m also learning what the Giants have to offer.”

Wilkinson started his year with Cleveland’s double-A affiliate in Akron, Ohio, and then went through the Giants organization after the trade, starting with San Francisco’s rookie ball team, then quickly moving to double-A Richmond, Va., and triple-A Sacramento before getting called up to the big leagues on Aug. 19.

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He had a 6-6 record in 20 starts with a 3.40 ERA and 96 strikeouts over 90 innings across all four minor-league teams.

Since getting called up to the bigs, he has a 6.14 ERA and eight strikeouts over 14 2/3 innings pitched for the Giants. Wilkinson said that he’s still making adjustments now that he’s facing top-flight hitters.

“The baseball’s obviously at a higher level; competition’s better,” he said in a phone interview Sunday. “It’s more demanding, a lot more games, more games every week, and it’s definitely an adjustment that you have to make, but it’s been smooth so far. 

“Haven’t had the best couple of outings, but had some good ones. Just got to keep getting better and find ways to get better.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2026.