William James Wagner...The son of former Major Leaguer and seven-time All-Star Billy Wagner, who made a combined 853 relief appearances across 16 seasons with the Astros, Mets, Phillies, Braves and Red Sox...Inducted to the Astros Hall of Fame...Graduated from Miller School of Albemarle in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017...Named to First-Team All-State his senior year and the All-Conference team four times during his high school career, helping lead his team to a state title in 2017...Was coached by his father who has been the head coach at the Miller School since 2013...Attended Liberty University for four years, where he batted .304 (147-for-484) with 30 doubles, four triples, 13 home runs, 94 RBI, 16 stolen bases, 57 walks, 98 strikeouts, a .463 SLG and an .840 OPS...In his senior season, hit batted .333 with 16 doubles, three triples, seven home runs, six stolen bases, a .538 SLG and a .937 OPS... Named a unanimous Atlantic Sun All Conference First Team selection as a senior...Named the “Best Hitter for Average” in the Astros minor league system prior to the 2024 season, per Baseball America...Listed as the Blue Jays 21st-ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline and the 25th-ranked prospect according to Baseball America.
2024
Between the Majors and Triple-A on the year, hit .313 (115-for-368) with 21 doubles, two triples, eight home runs, 65 runs scored, 54 RBI, a 14.3% walk rate, a 12% strikeout rate, a .414 OBP and an .859 OPS...Against right-handed pitching at the MLB level, hit .344 (21-for-61) with six doubles, a HR, 9 RBI, a .492 SLG, and an .867 OPS...On Aug. 31 at MIN, went 5-for-6 with a double and his second career home run...Became the first rookie in TOR history to record five hits in a single game...Marked the most hits by an MLB rookie on the year, the first AL rookie with five hits and a home run since Andrew Benintendi on July 4, 2017, and the first Blue Jays’ left-handed batter with five hits since Ryan Goins on Sept. 20, 2015...Recorded his first career home run with a solo shot to right field off LHP Brennan Bernardino in the 5th inning on Aug. 27 at BOS, ...Also doubled in the second and fourth innings, the first Blue Jays rookie (fifth player overall) to hit a home run and two doubles in a single game at Fenway Park...Recorded 10 hits through his first six career games with an at-bat, joining Bo Bichette (11 hits, from July 29-Aug. 3, 2019) and Ryan Goins (10 hits from Aug. 23-28, 2013) as the only players in franchise history to do so (before appearing in a completed suspended game on June 26 at BOS)...Batted .474 through his first five career starts, tied with Davis Schneider (2023) and Adam Lind (2006) for the highest in franchise history...Became the second player in franchise history and the fifth player in the Modern Era (since 1901) to record at least five hits, three doubles and three RBI in their first two MLB games (before appearing in a completed suspended game on 6/26 at BOS)...Became the fourth Blue Jay in franchise history to record three hits in his Major League debut, on Aug. 12 at LAA (before appearing in a completed suspended game on 6/26 at BOS, making it his debut)...In 77 MiLB games on the season between Triple-A Buffalo & Triple-A Sugar Land, batted .315 (90-for-286) with 15 doubles, two triples, six home runs, 43 RBI, 59 walks, 37 strikeouts, a .432 OBP and an .876 OPS...Traded to the Blue Jays along with RHP Jake Bloss and OF Joey Loperfido from the Astros in exchange for LHP Yusei Kikuchi on July 29.
2023
Spent the bulk of the 2023 season with Double A Corpus Christi, batting .309 (64x207) with 16 doubles, seven homers and 32 RBI in 53 games... among Texas League players (min. 230 PAs), ranked seventh in slugging percentage (.507) and eighth in batting average (.309)...was promoted to Triple A Sugar Land for the final week of the season and batted .577 (15x26) with three doubles and four RBI...received the Pacific Coast League Player of the Week on Sept. 24...was the Astros Minor League Player of the Month for August...missed nearly two months near the beginning of the season after undergoing surgery to remove the hook of the hamate bone in his right hand.
2022
n 2022, he split the season between High A Asheville (45g) and Double A Corpus Christi (72g)... recorded a .261 batting average (108x414) with 62 runs, 19 doubles, three triples, 10 home runs, 53 RBI, 67 walks and a .768 OPS....was also named an Arizona Fall League ALL-STAR in 2022 as a designated hitter after he hit .346 with 10 runs, six doubles, two triples, three home runs and a 1.145 OPS in 14 games...in the AFL, he ranked first in slugging percentage (.712), second in OPS, third in extra-base hits (11) and fifth in batting average.
2021
After being selected in the 2021 First Year Player MLB Draft, he appeared in 31 games for Low A Fayetteville...he batted .299 (35x117) with 22 runs, eight doubles, one triple, two home runs, 14 RBI, 16 walks, five stolen bases and a .824 OPS.
