Guardians Keep Reloading
Gavin Williams is a 23 year old starting pitcher for the Cleveland Guardians. Standing at 6’5” and weighing 250 lbs, Williams is an imposing human being. Williams was always seen as a special talent. Given the fact he was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays out of high school and decided not to sign should say enough as to having the talent level to pitch in the major leagues.
Fun fact about Williams is that as a senior in high school (2017), he managed to throw two consecutive no-hitters after undergoing surgery on a torn meniscus. You had to have known then and there that this guy is special. After deciding not to sign with Tampa he enrolled at East Carolina University where he had an interesting career between injuries and the Covid-19 stoppage of collegiate play. All in all, Williams went on to dominate in 2021 appearing in 15 games (12 starts) and went 10-1 with a 1.88 ERA to go along with 130 strikeouts over 81 ⅓ innings.
Following this display of dominance Williams was drafted in the 1st round at the 23rd overall selection to Cleveland. Three starts into his MLB career I wanted to recap how it’s been going. Utilizing a 4-pitch mix consisting of a 4-Seam Fastball (57.3%), Slider (19.9%), Curveball (16.5%) and Changeup (6.4%), he has been solid thus far. Would love to see the K’s tick up but that should come with time. The crazy thing I am seeing is that Williams is generating a 25% Whiff% with two of his four pitches (Slider & Changeup) but his lowest BA allowed are the 4-Seamer (.188 BA) and Curveball (.077 BA). The reason I am pointing this out is there seems to be good news all around his stuff just needs to put it all together. It is going to be fun watching this Cleveland team with Bibee, McKenzie, Allen & Williams all healthy someday.
Let’s see how Williams performs in the 2nd half of the season but just from the numbers alone I think Cleveland has done it again and managed to develop another ACE.
Season Totals - 3.79 ERA | 0.95 WHIP | 19 IP | 12 K
OAK - 5.2 IP | 4 K | 6.35 ERA | 1.24 WHIP
@KC - 7 IP | 6 K | 0.00 ERA | 0.29 WHIP
ATL - 6.1 IP | 2 K | 5.68 ERA | 1.42 WHIP
PHOTO CREDIT: Photo by David Durochik/Diamond Images via Getty Image