Alex Williams

Draft Prospects

• Ranked #473 prospect in 2021 draft
  Williams had Tommy John surgery in March 2020 shortly before the season shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. He returned this spring and slowly worked his way back by starting in Stanford’s bullpen before moving into the rotation in late April. He got progressively stronger as the year went on and capped his return with a dominant start in the Super Regionals, throwing a two-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts against Texas Tech to send Stanford to its first College World Series since 2008. Williams lacks big stuff but makes up for it by filling up the strike zone and mixing his pitches to keep hitters off-balance. His fastball averages 90 mph and touches 94 and his slider is an average pitch that induces weak contact. He was previously known for those two pitches, but his 79-81 mph changeup with arm-side drop became a swing-and-miss offering this year to help him average a strikeout per inning. Williams ties everything together with above-average control and has an innate feel for pitching that helps everything play up. He showed his durability by topping 100 pitches in back-to-back starts during the NCAA Tournament. Williams will have to prove he has enough stuff to succeed in pro ball, but his performance at the end of the year has teams willing to give him a shot.