Williams is a future Gold Glove candidate and possible MVP
Over the offseason, the Draybay community takes part in an exercise in which we compile a list of 30 prospects in the Rays system based on popular vote.
Now that the 2024 season has concluded, we can look back at these rankings and see how each individual player performed.
Reminder, this is a review of the prospects ranked heading into the 2024 season. This is not an updated ranking. Draysbay will begin the voting for the 2025 community top prospects later this offseason.
We have already covered the following:
We resume the reviews at #2.
20 | BT: R/R | 6’ 2” | 180
A+-AA-AAA | .258/.356/.497 (.853 OPS, 131 wRC+ in A+) 503 PA, 23 HR, 20 SB
AFL | .246/.366/.275 (.641 OPS) 82 PA, 0 HR, 5 SB
The Rays first round draft pick from 2021 can be summed up in six words: Power hitting every day short stop. Williams put up 19 homeruns in Class-A in 2022 and 23 homeruns in High-A in 2023, but that power came at the cost of a 32% strikeout rate in both seasons, which have some evaluators concerned with his hit tool. Then again, it’s a good thing premium short stops don’t necessarily need to hit for average to succeed. After getting cups of coffee at Double-a (6 G, 26 PA) and Triple-A (4 G, 15 PA), Williams starts this year in Montgomery, where a full season of more challenging breaking balls should let us know how legit the bat will be.
How it Went
For a stretch early on in the 2024 campaign, it looked like Williams was going to catapult himself into the discussion of being the game’s #1 overall prospect. During his first 34 games, Williams was hitting .341/.420/.638 with 8 HR over just 157 plate appearances. After that blistering stretch, Williams settled down, but was still an above average hitter through the rest of the season, posting a 113 wRC+ over his final 81 games. Overall, Williams did everything that he needed to improve his prospect stock. Strikeouts are still an issue, but Williams still projects to be a power hitting shortstop, capable of stealing 30+ stolen bases that will win a fair number of Gold Gloves.
Final 2024 Statline:
AA: .256/.352/.469 | 20 HR | 33 SB | 28.5 K% | 11.5 BB% | 142 wRC+ | 505 PA
