Before this season, it had been a rocky journey for Trevor Williams.
However, this season hasn’t had the same result. It has proven to be smooth sailing for Williams up until this point. What attributes to this switch? Determination.
A lot of players might have called it a career, hung up the cleats, and started a new profession. Williams was not one of those. He was adamant that he would find a way to be a big league starter. While he has had more trips up and down from the majors than most in the starting rotation for the Washington Nationals, those scenarios which required perseverance have helped prepare him as he currently sits in prime position to have his best season, at any professional level, yet.
Drafted in the second round of the 2013 MLB Draft by the Miami Marlins, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2015 offseason, where he made his MLB debut less than 11 months later. He had his highs and lows in Pittsburgh, notching a 5.312 ERA over 532.8 innings pitched over the course of his tenure with the franchise from 2016-2020. After moving around, he signed a two-year, $13M deal with the Nationals in December of 2022.
Last season, he didn’t have the eye popping numbers he would have hoped for with his new team. He led the league with home runs allowed in his 30 starts and garnered a 5.55 ERA with 53 walks.
But he wasn’t new to adversity – he had faced it time and time again. The real question the Nationals needed to know – would he be able to bounce back so they could consider him an arm in the rotation not just for the 2024 season, but for years down the road as well. Williams left no doubt to that question in early June. In 11 starts this season, Williams has gone 5-0 in 56.2 innings pitched with a 2.22 ERA, striking out 47 with a 1.08 WHIP.
If you break down his last three starts alone, he has given up just five earned runs in 15 innings pitched, with two of those games being against division rivals in the Phillies and Braves. While it is still a smaller sample size, only a little over ⅓ of the innings he pitched in 2023, Williams is on the right track to helping both himself and the Nationals get back to relevancy.
If he can sustain this consistency across 25+ starts, it would be pretty tough for the Nationals front office to not offer a contract extension as they work on making their first playoff appearance since 2019.
