Guardians To Promote 2021 First Round Pick Williams to Double-A Akron
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It took just nine starts into his career for 22-year-old RHP Gavin Williams to earn a promotion from High-A Lake County to Double-A Akron.
The Cleveland Guardians selected right-handed pitcher Gavin Williams with their first round pick out of East Carolina University in the 2021 MLB Draft. Williams has lived up to the hype and then some of what a first-round pick brings through his first nine career starts in 2022 for High-A Lake County.
The 22-year-old Williams began the season as our 2022 Guardians number seven ranked prospect here at Cleveland Baseball Insider.
Williams numbers at Lake County were absurd as he posted a miniscule 1.40 ERA over 45.0 innings pitched while striking out 67 batters good for a 13.40 strikeout per nine inning rate. Over the 45.0 innings he has only allowed 25 hits holding his opponents to a .167 average.
Gavin will bring his outstanding arsenal of pitches to his next challenge moving up in competition level at Akron.
Williams is a big young man at 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds, He possesses an electric arm that can touch triple digits. His fastball sits between 94-97 mph and can maintain that velocity for several innings. He has three other offerings besides his fastball including a curveball, which sits in the upper 70s with outstanding metrics. He also has a slider that shows potential of becoming a plus pitch that he throws in the mid-80s. Williams also throws a mid-80s changeup with fade.
While it's only nine starts into his career it's hard not to see the top of the rotation potential Williams offers. If all continues to go right with his development and he stays injury free it's hard not to imagine we could see Williams up in a Guardians uniform as early as the second half of the 2023 season but more likely sometime in 2024.
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