Located in the Northwest corner of Mississippi, and on the outskirts of Memphis, Tenn. is a town called Olive Branch, a place that prides itself on providing small-town Southern comfort, but with close-by Big City excitement. It’s one of the fastest-growing areas in Mississippi, which is fitting because it’s also the hometown of one of the fastest developing prospects in the Dodgers organization, Kendall Williams. Williams is a big 6’6 pitching prospect with big talent that has already been faced with some really big decisions in his life and has been “big-time” all along the way.
Big Success, Bigger Decisions
As baseball players progress through their careers, one hard reality that sets in is that really big decisions present themselves at seemingly every turn. With added success comes higher stakes, and decisions such as where to go to college or whether to turn pro can be life-changing. Williams was faced with a high-stakes decision earlier than most as during his Sophomore year in High School, he was offered the opportunity to transfer to the IMG Academy in Bradenton Florida, one of the best prep schools in the country. Faced with a huge decision, the 6’6 pitching prospect chose to transfer to IMG and never looked back.
So I had committed to Vanderbilt during my freshman Summer in High School, and then in the Fall of my Sophomore year I was down in Jupiter, Florida playing in a baseball tournament, and IMG had a scout out there. They saw me throw, I threw pretty well and they talked to my dad. We were already in Florida and so they offered to bring me over to the school and show me around, and I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it but it’s crazy. So, after being on campus and seeing everybody and hearing all the stuff we could do over there that would just kind of open up a lot of doors, I jumped on the decision pretty quick.
Williams dominated at IMG, posting a 0.91 ERA, earned 2nd team Max Preps All American honors, and prepared to play College Baseball at Vanderbilt, one of the best college baseball programs in the Country. Vanderbilt is not just a great baseball school, it is also an elite educational institution, so, when he got drafted in the 2nd round by Toronto, he was faced with yet another big decision and that was whether to be a “Vandy Boy” or turn pro and be a Bluejay.
Vandy is obviously an elite baseball academy and an elite educational institution too, so committing to them, honestly, was a pretty easy decision for me. It was pretty close to home, I love Nashville, so it checked a lot of boxes, so I made that decision during my Freshman Summer. Then, once I got to IMG, things got a little more serious and I was a lot more focused I guess you could say because I had a lot more resources available to me, had a good year and got drafted. It was a tough decision, because it’s school or a pro career at an early age, but going to IMG allowed me to be a little more prepared than the average kid going into it so I felt pretty strongly that I’d be okay, and I think it’s worked out pretty well to this point.
Wiliams had a great audition in his short season in 2019, then got introduced to the business side of baseball in 2020 when he was traded. The Dodgers always wanted the 6’6 PItching prospect, but Toronto took him early, so when the Dodgers were presented with the opportunity to get him in a trade they jumped on the chance. Williams became the first “Player to Be Named Later” in the Ross Stripling trade, and, alongside Ryan Noda, became a Dodger.
It was definitely weird for me because I wasn’t prepared for that, because in my mind I was just out of High School and had just gotten settled in Toronto. Things were great, I loved the people, its a great organization, but I woke up one day while I was in San Diego training with my pitching coach and I got a text from the front office telling me to call them. They reached out and told me I had gotten traded and it all just kind of happened really quick and it was weird because the next thing I knew I was getting picked up and was on my way to L.A. and the rest is kind of history. But, it was definitely different, it was weird, but it was cool.
Feature Cut
Williams is very “projectable”, meaning, with a 6’6 frame, as good as he already is, he still has room to grow. He is a pitcher that features a fastball that sits 91-94 and can hit 96, a curveball with good vertical break, a slider that is harder and is a++ pitch, and a changeup, that, like most young Dodgers pitchers, is developing into a very good pitch.
I wasn’t a heavy sinker guy, but I’ve kind of got the ride on my 4 seam up, so I have the 2 seam/4 seams splits, and my changeup is more of a split finger grip now, but it profiles the same as a changeup, so call it what you want, and I have a slider then a breaking ball that I can flip in for strikes every now and then just to show hitters something different.
Here is a sequence of his fastballs.
Williams change-up is a split-finger grip and plays really well off of his fastball. Not only does the pitch have really good vertical drop and arm side run, but it is also unrecognizable to the hitter. Here is a side by side of 2 release points with the one on the left being a fastball, and the one on the right is a change-up. There are two things that stick out. One is that the two pitches look identical out of Williams’s hand, and his release point and arm slot are exactly the same. The 2nd thing that sticks out is how tall those 2 pitches come out of his hand. When he releases the ball, the ball comes out above the hitter’s head, and so he is going to have great vertical drop down in the zone, then a great ride effect with his 4 seam up in the zone.
If Williams develops his split-fingered grip changeup into a pitch he gets a great feel for, watch out, because, at that point, he would have an arsenal that has the chance to be wipeout elite. As you’ll see, the pitch already has great vertical drop and arm side run when it’s in the strike zone, but, it’s such a “feel” pitch, it’s going to take time and daily maintenance to master that “feel”.
Williams’s slider has the potential to be a ++ pitch because he’s starting to show that he can locate it to his glove side very consistently. He’s able to induce a good break on the pitch to miss barrels, but, yet, keep it in the strike zone.
His curveball is a pitch that he has a lot of confidence in. It has a tight 12-6 break and should be a very high strike efficiency pitch for Williams. He is not afraid to throw it in any count because he controls the pitch very well. In fact, the curveballs in the following video were on a 2-2 and a 3-2 count.
Time Is On His Side
Williams is just 21 years old and already has a good feel for his arsenal of pitches, loves pressure, and especially enjoys having the ball in his hands in big situations.
I would definitely say that I feed off of high leverage situations because I want the ball in high-pressure situations. I like everything to be on me and I want that responsibility and I think that I live for those moments because I strive off of that.
Williams was asked how he gained so much confidence in his abilities:
I would say just the way I grew up, like the way my dad raised me, and the things he instilled in me and just the way my mindset has always been about things. I’ve always known I was good at baseball, and when I was younger I was just playing for the love of the game and I wasn’t worried about getting College Scholarships or getting drafted or anything like that. But, I think just slowly over time it’s just kind of built and I’ve just kind of fed off of that and I’ve kept going and going and going and here we are.
Williams is just 21 years old so he is going to have plenty of time to continue to grow through the system. At 6’6, it’s not a stretch to project him to sit 95-96 as a finished product, with the ability to hit the upper 90’s on occasion. He pitched all of last year in Low A Rancho, so it will be interesting to see where he starts in 2022, but, being just 21 years old, I wouldn’t expect the Dodgers to rush his development.
