INDIANAPOLIS — Trevor Williams assumes he will always have to keep one thought in the back of his mind when he pitches: Don’t be too aggressive.
His personality is anything but passive. But too much aggressiveness doesn’t work with the right hander’s pitching delivery, causing his body to get in front instead of sitting back.
“I think I’m always going to be battling that my entire career because I’m an aggressive guy with my delivery,” Williams said. “I think sometimes I get too amped up. I just need to get to the point of being more consistent of recognizing it earlier than later.”
Williams is recognizing those issues quickly and they’re becoming more infrequent. Add in a different approach against hitters and he’s in the midst of a dominant stretch.
He’s allowed one earned run on nine hits over 20 innings in his last three starts. He’s walked just two batters, while striking out 13. That equals a minuscule 0.55 WHIP during that stretch.
Those type of outings aren’t a surprise to those within the organization, which was impressed with Williams after spring training. But his season was quickly derailed when he suffered a shoulder strain in the first inning of his first start on April 10. He was sidelined until making a rehab start with High-A Bradenton on May 22. Williams then returned to the Indianapolis rotation a few days later and has made 10 starts with the Indians.
“He threw a lot of strikes in the spring and was down in the zone,” Indians manager Dean Treanor said. “That was very attractive.”
Of the top seven Indianapolis starting pitchers at the beginning of the year — Wilfredo Boscan, Steven Brault, Tyler Glasnow, Chad Kuhl, Jameson Taillon, and Tyler Glasnow have been promoted by the Pirates at some point. Williams has almost become the forgotten prospect, but his recent outings are a quick reminder of his potential.
“The injury was a huge bummer to start the season,” Williams said. “But we’ve put that behind us now. It’s done and over. I missed a few innings, but early I tried to catch up and tried to too much. But now I’m kind of getting back into that groove I had in Spring Training.”
Williams had a slow start in his return to the Indianapolis starting rotation, posting a 5.06 ERA and 1.78 WHIP during his six starts in June. And opponents hit .346 against him.
He’s been dominant in his three July starts, with opponents hitting just .136 against him. He allowed just one hit over seven scoreless innings at Toledo on June 3. That outing was the first one where Treanor thought Williams finally looked completely healthy.
But Williams is also using a new approach against hitters, throwing his four-seam fastball more frequently, and using it on both sides of the plate.
“I’m just attacking more with the fastball instead of trying to pitch to contact with my sinker,” Williams said.
Williams didn’t necessarily pitch poorly in some of his early starts with Indianapolis this season. But the lines and end results didn’t look that great at times. He allowed double-digit hits in two outings, but a majority of those were grounders that found holes. As Williams has become healthy, his velocity has increased to where he sits in the 93-95 MPH range
“His two-seamer is just so nasty that we’ve been using more four-seamers so he can play his two-seamer off of that,” Indianapolis catcher Jacob Stallings said. “He’s been locating all of his pitches really well.”
And never underestimate the importance of a good catcher-pitcher relationship. Prior to his start at Toledo on July 3, Williams was warming up in the bullpen. Stallings noticed two consecutive deliveries where Williams was too aggressive with his body. The two had a quick conversation, and Williams fixed the issue and rolled to the one-hitter.
“Sometimes with him he just tries to get so much extension that sometimes his body gets out in front of his arm,” Stallings said. “Luckily, I’ve been working with him enough that I can see it. One of the keys for him is letting his arm work and not doing too much with his body.”
The problem is similar to one most golfers have experienced at some point, Treanor said.
“You’re looking up to see where the ball goes before you ever hit it,” Treanor said. “He finishes a little bit early and I think that’s because of the aggressiveness. We’ve talked about it with him and he’s aware of it.”
In many ways, the problem isn’t all that bad. You can’t teach that type of mentality, Treanor said.
“You would rather have it that way then the other way,” he said.
Williams has not only been effective, but efficient. He’s pitched at least six innings in each of his last four starts — including two outings when he completed seven innings. And he hasn’t thrown more than 87 pitches in any of those four starts.
“I think his stuff will play [in the major leagues],” Treanor said. “This is his first [extended] time in Triple-A and there has been a learning curve ever since he’s been here. He works hard and probably as hard as anybody. He wants to get better. He’s striving to get better. He’s very analytical with things. He’s very aggressive and attacks — all of the little things that you want out of somebody. And his stuff plays.”
Williams has seemed to find a groove through being healthy again, working on keeping his delivery under control, and changing his approach in how he attacks hitters. It’s led to a dominant three-start stretch for the 24-year-old. If those recent performances become a trend, then Williams is going to push his name into the conversation of pitching options for the Major League level.
