Gavin Williams once again showed why he’s Guardians’ ace with start against Nationals

Gavin Williams has all the things needed to succeed as a starter in MLB. He has the frame (6-foot-6), velocity (96.2 mile per hour fastball) and arsenal. 

And now it seems like he finally has the ability to make adjustments. 

On Wednesday, Williams threw seven strong innings in the Guardians win over the Nationals despite needing 24 pitches to get through the first inning. 

While Williams had always flashed those ace-like qualities early in his career, he was never able to reach that next level thanks to his struggles with efficiency. But he was able to put those struggles behind him during his strong finish to last season, and has been even better through his first 12 starts this season. 

Gavin Williams is making the kind of adjustments needed to succeed in MLB 

Although Williams recorded just four strikeouts against the Nationals in his start on Thursday, he gave up just five baserunners and allowed just one run to a Washington lineup that had terrorized Guardians’ starters through the first two games of the series. 

Williams ended up needing just 69 pitches to get through the final six innings after his rough start to the game. 

After the game, Williams was asked if he felt that he could have made the kind of in-game adjustment that helped him last season, and he gave a candid answer.

“I feel like at times last year I was still a little bit sped up,” Williams said, per Cleveland.com’s Joe Noga. “Just overthinking things, trying to fix it way too early or way too quick and not really trusting the process.”

After starting his career with a variety of starts that burned bright and quick, he’s been able to give the Guardians some much-needed length this season. He’s now tossed an AL-leading 76 1/3 innings this season while also recording an AL-leading eight wins. 

He’s also gotten better as the season has gone on. He’s combined for a 1.29 ERA across his past 21 innings in starts against the Reds, Phillies and Nationals. Not too shabby. 

He’s also walking just 7.9% of the batters he’s faced, which is a far cry from the 11.8% walk rate he posted last season. 

“You have to be able to make in-game adjustments at-bat to at-bat, pitch to pitch,” Guardians manger Stephen Vogt said, per Noga. “And we’re seeing that growth from Gavin and being able to repeat and execute.”

Williams has also helped lead a Guardians’ rotation that has the seventh-best ERA in baseball (3.67) along with having a budding co-ace in Parker Messick. 

Things haven’t been perfect in Cleveland’s rotation thanks to Tanner Bibee’s recent struggles, but Slade Cecconi’s been a bit better as of late while Joey Cantillo’s settled in (aside from his most recent start). 

Even though the Guardians’ offense has been better this season, they’re still built around solid pitching. And Williams has clearly been doing his part.

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