Gavin Williams Rehab Assignment Recap, Guardians News
Gavin Williams is inching closer to his return to the Cleveland Guardians rotation after suffering an elbow injury all the way back during spring training.
He took his latest step in his recovery on Tuesday night by making his second rehab assignment appearance with the Columbus Clippers (Triple-A).
Williams pitched 2.1 innings and threw 46 pitches with 63 percent of those being strikes. He did strike out five batters but also gave up three hits and three earned runs as well.
However, typical counting stats are just one piece of the puzzle when looking at rehab starts such as this one. There was a lot to like about Williams' progress and recovery when looking at his advanced data from this outing.
Gavin threw 36 fastballs with an average velocity of 94.8 mph and he topped at 98.1 mph in the first inning. He only threw the curveball eight times, but batters did whiff at it twice. His velocity did taper off as the start went on, but it's encouraging that he still was able to hit the upper 90s with the heater which is what made him such a great pitcher last year.
Tuesday was Williams’ second rehab start. His first rehab appearance with the Clippers was on May 30 where he pitched just 1.0 inning and gave up two hits and struck out two batters.
Cleveland is in desperate need of starting pitching whenever they can get more of it. Hopefully, they can get Williams back as soon as he’s ready, but making sure the 24-year-old is completely healthy before returning obviously needs to be the organization’s number-one priority.
TOMMY WILD