Jerome Williams Returns to the Majors
After a hiatus of over four years, Jerome Williams is back in the majors. After coming up with the Giants as a 21-year-old in 2003, he’s bounced around to the Cubs, Nationals, Twins, Dodgers, and Athletics organizations, putting up unspectacular numbers. He also had a 2010 stint in Taiwan. The Angels brought him back to the U.S. before this season, and he had some success at Triple-A Salt Lake, posting a 4:1 K/BB ratio in 73 2/3 innings. He got the call to the major leagues last week, making a three-batter relief appearance on August 17th before being slotted into the rotation for a Sunday start against the Orioles. He impressed, allowing one run in seven innings while striking out six and walking nobody. Since his last appearance in the major leagues, he’s made some adjustments to his pitching style: first, he’s throwing harder. As Williams noted in a interesting post game interview with The Orange County Register’s Sam Miller, he used to conserve his fastball velocity but now prefers to go right after hitters. Consider the velocities for his different pitch types:
-------------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+ | Pitch | 2007 | 2011 | -------------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+ |Two-Seam Fastball | 89.4 | 91.5 | |Four-Seam Fastball | 88.7 | 91.5 | |Slider/Cutter | 84.6 | 87.9 | |Changeup | 82.2 | 83.5 | |Curveball | 78.0 | 79.1 | -------------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
It’s important to note that we have extremely little PITCHf/x data on Williams from before his 2011 return – in fact, there’s just one 2007 start (that was the first year with any regular season f/x data) at which we can look pitch by pitch, so, basically, we’re just comparing one 2007 start to one 2011 start. Not my favorite thing to do, but it’s necessary when the samples are so small.
Essentially, he’s throwing his fastballs ~2 mph faster, his change and curve ~1 mph faster, and his slider more than 3 mph faster. According to his interview with Miller, he started tightening up his slider in 2009 and he nows thinks of it as a cutter.
Also different from his 2007 appearance is how Williams is mixing his pitches. He seems more apt to go with a two-seam/cutter combination:
-------------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+ | Pitch | 2007 | 2011 | -------------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+ |Two-Seam Fastball | 19% | 34% | |Four-Seam Fastball | 39% | 5% | |Slider/Cutter | 22% | 39% | |Changeup | 16% | 18% | |Curveball | 4% | 5% | -------------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
It’s certainly been a struggle for Williams throughout his professional career, but recent reclamation projects such as Colby Lewis and Ryan Vogelsong should remind us to not give up hope. It would be great to see Williams build on his first start and put together a nice run down the stretch.
Nice writeup, Lucas. It’s looking more and more that the 2 seam/cutter is becoming a very popular fastball setup. I think it’s something that Halladay is breeding by example. What were Williams’ most effective pitches yesterday? Were his Ks swinging or looking?
Thanks, William.
The cutter looked like his most effective pitch – he got ten swinging strikes on it yesterday.
His two-seam fastball had movement that reminded me of Scot Shields, but with a little less crazy good movement. He did a nice job.
I remember Williams from his first go-round with the Giants. High 3/4 release with a decent amount of downward bite on his pitches. I don’t know if he still does it, but he had a pretty wicked pick off move, too. I wish him the best in Anaheim – he seemed like a nice kid. Does he still wear the puka shells?
He does.
Failed Giant pitching prospects from a decade ago are the new market inefficiency.
If only he was a female midget
There is no such publication as the Ocean Country Register
You are correct. Fixed.
Never thought I’d hear that name again. Good luck, Jerome.
Jerome’s mother died quite young early in his 2nd season (if I recall), he seemed to deteriorate after that, got traded & his weight boomed.
I was fearful for his well-being far beyond baseball. Really good to see him back. He’s still young.
When I heard he got called up I was basically saying “meh” but after seeing his start….his stuff was pretty good in all honesty. I liked his changeup and the slider looked good to.
I was a big fan of the Giants pitching prospect trifecta of Jesse Foppert, Jerome Williams, and Kurt Ainsworth when they first came up. They all had so much promise. Of the three, Williams had the most success in the majors, but all three fell apart so spectacularly. Good to see Williams, at least, is still hanging in there.