Player News
-
Williams went 1-for-4 with a double against the Red Sox in Wednesday's Grapefruit League game. Williams got the chance to start at shortstop while hitting fifth in the order. He faced Garrett Crochet in the second inning and fell behind 0-2 in the count before lacing a double to left field that landed just before the wall. Williams is a candidate for a mid-season promotion to the majors and has gone 2-for-13 with three strikeouts and two walks so far in spring training.
-
Williams (hand) returned to action Tuesday for Double-A Montgomery and has gone 1-for-7 with two walks, a run and an RBI while starting at shortstop in the club's last two contests. Williams missed a week of action with a hand injury but was never placed on Montgomery's 7-day injured list. The 20-year-old shortstop prospect is hitting .289/.374/.537 with 10 home runs and 15 stolen bases across 230 plate appearances in the Southern League this season.
-
Williams is considered day-to-day after being hit by a pitch in the hand during Wednesday's game with Double-A Montgomery, MLB.com reports. X-rays and an MRI came back clean, so it appears as if Williams has avoided serious injury. That's positive news, as he's had an excellent season with Montgomery, maintaining a .928 OPS with 10 home runs and 15 stolen bases across 49 games.
-
Williams is slashing .336/.410/.571 with five home runs, nine steals, a 24.6 percent strikeout rate and a 72.3 percent contact rate in 29 games for Double-A Montgomery. Williams has plus power, above-average speed and a chance to develop into a 70-grade defender at shortstop, it's just a question of how good his hit tool will be. While Williams' .432 BABIP is obviously inflating his line somewhat, his start to the season is encouraging, as he had a 31.8 percent strikeout rate and a contact rate below 65 percent last year. The Rays are getting good real-life shortstop play from Jose Caballero (0.8 fWAR), and Williams isn't on the 40-man roster, so he may still spend most, or all the season in the upper levels of the minors, but his dynasty stock is trending steeply up.
-
Williams is hitting .255/.347/.489 with 13 home runs, 21 steals and 41:125 BB:K in 82 games for Single-A Charleston. Yep, that's 125 strikeouts in 82 games for Williams -- good for an ugly 32.9 percent strikeout rate. He came out of the gate on fire, putting up a .323 average and 1.018 OPS through his first 33 games of the year, but in the 50 games since, he's put up a .208 batting average and .710 OPS. The stolen-base production has fallen off, too -- he's gone 0-for-2 over his last 16 games. Williams still boasts an intriguing power-speed blend, and he's considered a good bet to stick at shortstop, so there's still plenty to dream on here, but as the Rays (and fantasy managers) have seen with the travails of Josh Lowe this year, a subpar hit tool can prevent the other tools from showing through regularly.
Recent Tweets
Last 7 Games
| DATE | Opp | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | BB | KO | SB |
|---|
Upcoming Games
| date | Opp | time | Scheduled Starter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3/28 | vs  |
4:10 PM | Not Announced Yet |
| 3/29 | vs |
4:10 PM | Not Announced Yet |
| 3/30 | vs |
1:40 PM | Not Announced Yet |
| 3/31 | vs  |
7:05 PM | Not Announced Yet |
| 4/01 | vs |
7:05 PM | Not Announced Yet |
| 4/02 | vs |
1:10 PM | Not Announced Yet |
| 4/04 | @  |
8:05 PM | Not Announced Yet |