Former B.C. Little League star ‘Tugboat’ Wilkinson adjusts to first MLB season

Matt Wilkinson, the Ladner, B.C., pitcher known as “Tugboat,” has spent three weeks pitching for the San Francisco Giants in his first Major League Baseball season.

Wilkinson, who has carried the nickname since playing baseball as a boy in his hometown, was selected by the Cleveland Guardians in the 10th round of the 2023 MLB Draft. The six-foot-one, 250-pound pitcher was traded to San Francisco in May and made his major-league debut for the Giants against the Guardians in Cleveland on Aug. 19.

Wilkinson said his first thought after the trade was that he would be back on the West Coast, closer to Vancouver. He said he was not unhappy in Cleveland, but it was far from home.

He first drew widespread attention as the standout pitcher for a youth team from White Rock, B.C., at the 2015 Little League World Series. At 13, he struck out 16 batters in five innings in Canada’s 1-0 loss to Mexico; one batter reached first on a dropped third strike.

Wilkinson later attended Foothills Composite High School in Okotoks, Alta., before playing college baseball at Central Arizona College. In 2023, he was named the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I pitcher of the year after recording a 1.07 earned-run average and 138 strikeouts in 84 innings. Cleveland selected him 308th overall later that year.

He moved quickly through the Guardians’ minor-league system. In 2023, he pitched one inning for Cleveland’s rookie-league club and struck out three batters. In 2024, he posted a 1.90 ERA with 174 strikeouts over 118 2/3 innings across two single-A leagues.

Wilkinson spent all of 2025 at single-A Lake County, going 4-9 in 25 starts with 117 strikeouts in 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 move to San Francisco has been smooth and that the Giants welcomed him openly. He said he has carried lessons from Cleveland into his daily work while learning from the Giants, including bullpen coach Jesse Chavez, an 18-year MLB veteran who spent two seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Wilkinson began this season with Cleveland’s double-A affiliate in Akron, Ohio. After the trade, he started with San Francisco’s rookie-ball club, then moved quickly through double-A Richmond, Va., and triple-A Sacramento before his Aug. 19 call-up. Across the four minor-league clubs, he went 6-6 in 20 starts with a 3.40 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 90 innings.

For the Giants, he has a 6.14 ERA and eight strikeouts over 14 2/3 innings. Wilkinson said he is still adjusting to facing top-level hitters, stronger competition and a more demanding schedule with more games each week.

In a phone interview Sunday, he said he has not had his best outings recently but has had good ones and needs to keep improving and find ways to get better.

The Canadian Press first reported this story Sept. 9, 2026.