Guardians To Promote 2021 First Round Pick Williams to Double-A Akron

Williams Off To A Tremendous Start To His Career With Cleveland

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. 

Source: Cleveland #Guardians have promoted 22-year-old RHP prospect Gavin Williams to Double-A Akron.

Williams over nine starts at (High-A) Lake County:

- 45.0(IP) 25H 7R 7ER 14BB 67SO 1.40 ERA@16gavinwilliams #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/K0kqoJhuIg

— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) June 6, 2022

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.

#Guardians 22yr old RHP prospect Gavin Williams was absolutely nasty today striking out 10 over 5.0 scoreless innings for Lake County vs Dayton!

Line - 5.0(IP) 2H 0R 0ER 2BB 10SO

Season - 24.2(IP) 8H 4R 4ER 9BB 39SO 1.46 ERA@16gavinwilliams @LCCaptains #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/8Zwk5jRkSW

— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) May 7, 2022

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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