Beginning with opening day, Trevor Williams will look for a reversal of fortunes in his early career with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
By now, everyone knows the story; Trevor Williams came over to the Pittsburgh Pirates as part of the one-sided deal when Jim Benedict went to the Miami Marlins. The other side of the story is one that will likely make Williams a quick fan favorite. When he isn’t working on baseball, Williams is a man working to inspire others, spend time with family, friends, and teammates, and obsess over his Star Wars and Magic the Gathering interests.
The Disappointing 2016:
On the field, Williams got his first taste of experience with the Pittsburgh Pirates in spring training 2016. He had a 2.57 ERA over three appearances. In 7.0 innings of work, he allowed 10 hits, two earned runs (both coming off of solo home runs), and a walk, while striking out nine batters. Batters had a .345 average and 1.57 WHIP against Williams. He carried a strong performance to Indianapolis, where he had a 2.53 ERA over 19 starts and 110.1 innings. His strikeout numbers were low, but overall, his stats were still good enough for a September promotion.
He finished with a 7.82 ERA in 12.2 innings over seven appearances, and it took all seven appearances for him to finally record a scoreless inning. He entered 2017 in search of his first perfect appearance. In 2016, Williams allowed 19 hits, 13 runs (11 earned), four home runs, and five walks. He recorded 11 strikeouts. The .339 average against him needs to be reduced in his first full season at the major league level. His statistics as a reliever were even worse.
In six appearances as a reliever, Williams had an 8.31 ERA in 8.2 innings. He allowed 14 of the 19 hits and 10 of the 13 runs coming out of the bullpen. He struggled against lefties, as his 16.62 ERA would suggest. Conversely, he had a 3.24 ERA against righties. This spring has been a completely different story.
[mlbvideo id=”1246507483″ width=”400″ height=”224″ /]The New Trend Emerges:
Spring statistics don’t matter. It’s the adage dating back decades. Trends, on the other hand, can be very useful for predicting how a player is going to perform over the course of the regular season. His stock is trending upwards following spring training. Williams had a 2.04 ERA. Juan Nicasio had a spring for the record books in 2016, only to experience the pangs of inconsistency. He had an impressive spring and start to the minor league season, but he didn’t see it translate in the final months of the season.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Lefties hit just .200 against him in limited appearances this spring.[/perfectpullquote]Unlike in 2016, Williams did not struggle against lefties. In fact, he was equally impressive facing hitters from both sides of the plate. Lefties hit just .200 against him in limited appearances this spring. Righties didn’t fare much better in .242. The WHIP for lefties was 0.78, and for righties, it was 1.04. Part of the key to how much he succeeds in 2017 will be how he approaches lefties.
[mlbvideo id=”1246633283″ width=”400″ height=”224″ /]In 2016, Williams did not trust himself much pitching inside as the graphic below courtesy of Brooks Baseball would suggest. This spring, he worked on the inner third of the plate more frequently against lefties, and no game would be a better indication of his progress to that effect than the March 24, 2017 game against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays used a lineup with a lot of lefties in that game, and Williams pitched five scoreless and allowed three hits, while striking out four. He was also able to induce a lot of ground balls by working down in the zone.
Entering spring training, Williams was thought of as having just an outside chance at a spot on the Opening Day roster, but now that Opening Day has arrived with him on said roster, Williams could be the lynchpin to the stability of the front end of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ bullpen this season if he continues the positive trends he displayed in spring training.
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