PITTSBURGH - Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson was considered a slick-fielding slap hitter who occasionally got big hits but often looked overmatched against star pitchers.

That wasn't just how scouts saw him, but how Wilson often viewed himself.

"I probably gave pitchers too much credit," Wilson said.

Something changed this season, even if Wilson isn't exactly sure what it is. As the Pirates begin their final series of the season today in Cincinnati, Wilson is one hit away from being the franchise's first player with 200 hits since Dave Parker in 1977.

One more hit would also make him the first Pirates shortstop with a 200-hit season since Hall of Famer Honus Wagner in 1908 - 96 years ago. Even Dick Groat didn't have that many hits during his NL MVP season for the 1960 World Series champion Pirates.

"It would be unbelievable," said Wilson, who didn't have more than 143 hits in any of his first three seasons. "It would be even better than being in the All-Star game."

Until now, Wilson was compared favorably to predecessors such as Groat, Gene Alley and Jay Bell for his defense, but no one in the organization expressed any hope he would become one of the National League's best offensive shortstops.

That's why Wilson wasn't very successful last weekend when he tried to downplay what a 200-hit season would mean to a classic overachiever who surprised many just by making the majors.

"I don't think it's that big of a deal, really," Wilson said. "It would be nice to get 200 hits, but the only reason I get 200 hits is because I don't walk."

But it would be a big deal to Wilson, whose solid play from April to October has been one of the few highlights of the Pirates' 12th consecutive losing season. Only other six other players currently have 200 hits, though Baltimore's Miguel Tejada is only three hits away.

Some skeptics wondered when he was chosen for the All-Star game - his average was .332 at the time - if his offense would hold up.

He is hitting below .300 since then, but still takes a .309 average into the weekend. Unless the Pirates play several extra-inning games, his 200th hit would all but assure him of a .300 season, too.

As the season wound down, the 26-year-old Wilson briefly found himself worrying about the 200 hits and the .300 average.

"I got so caught up in it that I lost focus on my job," he said. "So I wanted to get back to having good at-bats and moving the runners over and doing the little things that I was doing before."

Or, exactly the approach that allowed him to raise his average more than 50 points above his previous career best of .256, set last year.

Manager Lloyd McClendon's decision to keep him in the No. 2 spot rather than dropping him to No. 8 - a move that forced him to be more patient - also helped. It also enabled him to pay more attention to how leadoff hitter Jason Kendall, a perennial .300 hitter, worked pitchers into favorable counts.

A good start also helped build the confidence McClendon said Wilson sometimes lacked.

"You could tell he felt overmatched at times against the top pitchers," McClendon said. "It was just a matter of him developing some confidence."

Wilson also began to realize top pitchers make mistakes, too - just not as many as the average pitcher. As a result, he began going to the plate determined to get a pitch to hit no matter who the pitcher was.

Wilson showed that while homering to help beat Arizona's Randy Johnson 2-1 on Aug. 25, on a night Johnson looked almost unhittable at times.

"He's going deeper into counts now, he's using the entire field to hit and he's not as worried about getting jammed," McClendon said.

Or worried that one bad at-bat or bad game will ruin the kind of season he never thought he could achieve.

"I never thought this was possible," he said.