Former Dodgers Prospect Offers Signed Shohei Ohtani Cleats 'For Sale/Trade'

J.P. Hoornstra | Apr 26, 2025

Apr 23, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani (17) warms up before the teams game against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. / Matt Marton-Imagn Images

Kendall Williams' career in the Los Angeles Dodgers began as a "player to be named later." It appeared to have ended in August 2024 when he was released from his minor league contract.

Now, Williams can add one more bullet point to his Dodgers resumé: hawker of valuable merchandise.

Williams posted a picture of himself meeting then-recently signed Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani on his Instagram page in January 2024:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kendall Williams (@kwilliams)

The photo shows Ohtani arm-in-arm with Williams, who's holding an autographed — by Ohtani, ostensibly — New Balance cleat.

Williams' latest post suggests that cleat can be yours. "Signed Ohtani Cleats For Sale/Trade" reads the Instagram story, captured and posted to Twitter/X by Jacob Brownson on Friday:

Kendall Williams selling cleats that Shohei signed for him is kind of crazy. pic.twitter.com/RxBHCyb3fu

— Jacob Brownson (@brownsonjacob2) April 25, 2025

Williams' transactions page on the Minor League Baseball website indicates he is still unsigned, so perhaps the sale of the autographed cleat will go a long way.

The Dodgers initially acquired Williams as one of two players to be named later in the trade that sent Ross Stripling to the Toronto Blue Jays at the 2020 trade deadline. A 6-foot-6 right-hander, Williams was ranked by MLB Pipeline as the 13th-best prospect in the Jays’ farm system at the time of the trade.

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Williams had less than a full season's worth of professional experience when he joined the Dodgers organization. He was selected in the second round (52nd overall) of the 2019 draft and trained at the team's alternate site during the COVID-19 pandemic, which wiped out the minor league baseball season.

When the minor league seasons resumed in 2021, Williams made his Dodgers organizational debut at Class-A Rancho Cucamonga.

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In 2023, Williams got his first (and only) cup of coffee at the Triple-A level. He made one start for Oklahoma City and allowed five runs in six innings.

In 2024, Williams repeated Double-A as a 24-year-old. The results did not match his early potential. He went 4-10 with a 6.70 ERA in 20 starts. He walked as many batters as he struck out (50) in 92.2 innings and posted a 1.74 WHIP.

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Williams was released in August of last year. The other player to be named later in the Stripling trade, Ryan Noda, already has 164 major league games to his credit over the past two seasons; the Dodgers lost Noda in the 2022 Rule 5 draft to the Oakland A's.

For now, Williams has a career record of 14-26 with a 4.68 ERA in 93 regular-season games across five minor league levels.

For more Dodgers news, head over to Dodgers on SI.