Gavin Williams

Going back to his prep days at Cape Fear High in Fayetteville, N.C., Williams has had plenty of velocity. He was in the mid 90s with a projectable frame at the time and scouts didn’t think it would be too long before he was touching 100 mph. They weren’t wrong, and now Williams sits with one of the hardest fastballs in the draft class. He sits 94-96 with the pitch and has been up to 100-101 mph. Despite that velocity, Williams struggled during his first three seasons—with injuries, consistency and control. As a draft-eligible member of the 2020 class, Williams ranked No. 81 in the class on the upside of his pure stuff despite throwing just three innings after being limited with a finger injury. This spring, he’s put everything together for the first time and excelled in a mostly starting role, pitching to a 1.46 ERA through his first 10 starts and 68 innings, with 108 strikeouts (14.3 K/9) and 18 walks (2.4 BB/9)—good for the lowest walk rate of his career. He improved his secondaries over the offseason and is more consistent with his breaking balls. An upper-70s curveball with 11-5 shape has been his best swing-and-miss pitch this spring, and he also throws a mid-80s slider with short, two-plane bite that is solid when he gets on top of it and keeps it down. Williams also throws a firm, upper-80s changeup that has some dive and gets whiffs when it’s located down, but he misses to his arm side with the pitch. Williams could get drafted among the top-two rounds with his breakout season and loud pitch-mix.