30.2 F
Pittsburgh

Trevor Williams is Ready to Join the Indianapolis Rotation

Published:

BRADENTON – Trevor Williams made his final rehab start today before heading back to Indianapolis, throwing five innings for the Marauders. Williams was recovering from a mild rotator strain, which he suffered in his first inning of his first start of the year for Indianapolis on April 10th. He went five shutout innings today, giving up four hits, no walks, and striking out four. He threw 44 of 62 pitches for strikes, then finished his day with about 13-14 more pitches in the bullpen, getting him close to his 80 pitch limit.

“We’re a hundred percent,” Williams said. “I just needed to get the stamina back up to be a starter. That’s what they wanted me to be at the beginning of the year. It’s a bummer I went down the second hitter of the year, but it is what it is. I took a little longer than anticipated to get back. Shoulders are weird. Everyone’s shoulders are different. Now, I feel 100%. We’ve really been hitting the rehab program, strengthening my arm up.”

Williams started throwing off flat ground two days after his injury, just to test the shoulder.

“We just wanted to test it, to see what really was going on, and it hurt. It hurt a lot. Obviously, it’s my arm, and I was expecting the worst. It got to the point where I couldn’t move my arm up.”

The team doctor in Indianapolis was able to rule out the need for an MRI, and ruled out a labrum injury or a serious rotator cuff injury.

“Right when it happened, the team doctor looked at my shoulder, did a bunch of test, and said ‘If this was your labrum, your rotator, you would be screaming right now,'” Williams said. “I thought the worst. I’ve never been on the DL, I’ve never had an arm injury. So I don’t know how to gauge what really feels bad, and what will just take time.”

Williams continued throwing, and started seeing improvements, although he was having trouble getting extension on his pitches during bullpen sessions.

“I was throwing bullpens fine,” Williams said. “My arm speed just wasn’t there to be able to finish [pitches], because when I hurt it, it was on the finish. It was on the back of my shoulder, and it felt like something was separating, and I couldn’t throw it anymore. So we needed to get to that point where I was okay to really get extension, because that’s part of my game, getting really far out there in extension.”

He finally got to that point when he threw a two-inning sim game in Indianapolis. From there, he returned to Bradenton, where he got on a five-day schedule and pitched three and four inning rehab starts in extended Spring Training. His final start was scheduled for today, although extended Spring Training is off on Sunday. Fortunately, the Marauders were in town, allowing him to make his start.

Williams could return to the Indianapolis rotation this week, although the rotation is a bit of a mess right now. The Indians are off tomorrow, and currently have Frank Duncan, Kyle Lobstein, and Chad Kuhl scheduled for their next three games. Jameson Taillon isn’t included in that schedule, and would normally be pitching in Kuhl’s place. Taillon told me last week that the team was considering using an off-day to readjust the rotation and push him back a few days.

Williams would be in line for his next start on Friday, but that would also be the five-day schedule for Tyler Glasnow. That means that on Friday, the Indians would have Glasnow, Taillon, and Williams all on five days rest or more. I’d expect this would give them a chance to reset the rotation, with Kuhl and Lobstein making up the final two spots, and Frank Duncan going down to Altoona to join their rotation and replace David Whitehead. As for Williams, he is excited about making that return.

“I feel good to go, and I just can’t wait to get back in that rotation,” Williams said. “You get in that rotation and everyone is throwing up zeroes. Everyone is playing off each other. When I was still up in Indy, it was fun to watch. Chad would go out and throw seven shutout, and Jamo would go out and do the same thing, and then Brault. And everyone is feeding off everyone. It’s fun to watch, but when you’re supposed to be in that rotation, it kind of fires you up. I just can’t wait to go back and compete in that rotation.”

After today’s outing, Williams is ready to go back to Indianapolis and compete. Or, as he puts it, to start his season.

“Everything is there. Now it’s just getting back in the swing of things. My season started today, rather than on April 4th.”

Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

Related Articles

Latest Articles