A player’s value is often easy to note based on what he or she is able to do on the field.
Sometimes, though, their lack of availability is just as good of a barometer.
Both statements were absolutely true for John Milledge Academy baseball star Cooper “Texas” Wilburn. In his senior season this spring he posted career highs in batting average (.441), hits (30), RBI (32), home runs (seven), doubles (nine) and runs scored (30), all while flashing the leather from the left side of the Trojan infield.
“Knowing it was my last year gave me a little bit more motivation,” Wilburn said.
Due to injury, Wilburn’s impact from the pitching mound was not as prevalent on his resumé in 2024. A 7-0, sub-2.40 ERA hurler and GIAA Class AAA Player of the Year last season in John Milledge’s second consecutive state championship-winning campaign, Wilburn was all set to be the team’s top arm again in ‘24. But the wiry righty battled issues in both his elbow and shoulder throughout the season, limiting his pitching to three regular season appearances and two playoff starts. Although those were all incredible efforts (just nine hits allowed in 24 innings), they were a fraction of what Wilburn expected to contribute.
“I just had to have trust in the other pitchers and do everything I could do to help the team win,” he said. “My teammates helped a lot. Everyone gave their best effort this year.”
The Trojans finished the season as state semifinalists with a 13-13 record. Head coach Chad Starley believes the team would have won at least seven more games had his ace been fully healthy.
“He meant a lot to this year’s team,” Starley said. “His presence on the infield, in the dugout, and on the mound – everything he did, he was the dude. He’s one of those guys that comes around maybe every 20 years. He’s a generational player. I would put him as one of the best players to ever play at John Milledge.”
That’s high praise for the player teammates and coaches call Texas. Wilburn’s Lonestar State nickname stems from the fact that his family moved from there to Georgia his sophom*ore year. He’s been a standout ever since arriving, hitting no lower than .338 in his three seasons at JMA.
Wilburn is not all that physically imposing of a player. At least not until he swings the bat or the ball leaves his hand from the rubber. He led John Milledge and Baldwin County in almost every hitting category this past season. And from the mound, when the eyes of Texas were upon a batter, the opponent was almost always going to be outgunned. Wilburn was throwing high-80s into the low-90s this season while also bewildering hitters with a five-pitch arsenal that included a two-seam fastball, curveball, slider, changeup and knuckleball (about two or three per game, Wilburn says). He called the two-seamer his best pitch, one that runs in hard on righties’ and away from lefties, turning what they hoped to be hits into swings and misses or buzzing hands when contact was made.
Starley heaped more praise upon Wilburn by pointing out that he was a competitor in every sense of the word.
“He was laying out for balls on a Tuesday in October. He just got after it. He’s that type of kid that loves to battle and compete. Every game he held himself to a higher standard and we held him to a high standard. He’s a special player.”
While he was tearing it up at the plate and in the field, Wilburn had to wait well over a month into the season before seeing any game action from the mound. His first appearance came April 8 when the Trojans were down 9-1 to Heritage in the last inning. Wilburn came in and shut the Hawk bats down, showing the visitors they were better than what John Milledge had available to pitch earlier that day, but not better than the Trojans’ best.
“It was relieving knowing I had control of the game and I knew I still had everyone behind my back,” Wilburn said of his return to the rubber. “I wanted to do the best I could for my team.”
Wilburn’s first start was a nine-strikeout, three-hit performance in four innings versus Briarwood. His second start brought a personal milestone as he no-hit Brentwood across five frames in a 10-0 JMA win. It was the first no-hitter of his career. Wilburn fanned eight that day and walked only one while hitting a homer in his second consecutive game. He was pitching with all the confidence in the world.
“He’s got a great arm to be as small as he is,” Starley said. “It’s natural ability. You either have it or you don’t. You can’t really teach it.”
Then came the Class AAA state playoffs. Wilburn pitched in the quarterfinals against Dominion Christian before having his name called again in Game 1 of the semifinal series versus Valwood. It was in the fifth inning of that game that he felt the dreaded “pop” in his throwing elbow, but he soldiered on and kept throwing. The pitchers’ duel was scoreless heading into the seventh when a less-than-100% Wilburn walked a batter and later gave up a hit that would score the game’s only run.
“I tried to finish, and that’s when the kid got that hit off me,” Wilburn said. “It hurt, but I was just trying to do all I could do.”
The Trojan bats mustered only two hits of support, one of which was Wilburn’s, in that game. They bounced back in Game 2 to win 10-3 before the winner-take-all matchup turned into another close affair. Seeing his team trailing 1-0 in his final turn at the plate, Wilburn made sure to give his team an opportunity to win it.
“He smoked a double into right-center in his last at-bat,” Starley recalled. “He was not going to go down without a fight. That’s just who Texas is.”
The Trojans couldn’t get him across the plate, though, so the season ended in a series decided by a pair of 1-0 losses.
More bad news came just Thursday. Wilburn had gone to get an MRI on his elbow, and the returned diagnosis was a torn ulnar collateral ligament. The setback isn’t keeping him from his dream of continuing his career though. A few colleges have offered him, giving him options for a future destination. Wilburn says he’s looking for a good coaching staff and somewhere he’ll be able to start early. He’s hoping to parlay his college-playing days into a professional baseball career down the road.
One thing is for certain. Wherever Texas winds up, that program will be getting a player who will do what he can to make the team bigger and better.
