The Guardians' Gavin Williams and the common difficulty of a rookie trusting his stuff
Guardians manager Terry Francona didn't need to be in the dugout to see how strong of an outing rookie starter Gavin Williams put forth Monday night.
Francona was serving a one-game suspension as a result of his role in Saturday's on-field scuffle with Tim Anderson and the Chicago White Sox. Because of that, he watched Monday's game from his office.
Williams, on the other hand, was allowed to pitch Monday. The Toronto Blue Jays lineup would have preferred otherwise, even though Toronto went on to win the game 3-1.
Williams, who was recently ranked as a top-20 prospect in baseball, turned in a dynamic performance, striking out a career-high 12 batters while allowing just one hit in seven shutout innings.
It was the first time a Cleveland rookie pitcher struck out at least 12 batters since Luis Tiant in his rookie season of 1964. And it was the first time a Cleveland rookie has struck out at least 12 batters while allowing one or zero hits since — well, ever.
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"I don't care if you're on my couch or in the dugout, that's kind of nice to see," Francona said Tuesday. "They're a good fastball-hitting team, and he was challenging them in the zone. A lot of it was up, but in the zone and getting it by them."
"Challenging" is the key word there. Like many rookie pitchers to come before him, Williams might have fallen into the habit of giving major league hitters a little too much credit. Rookie hurlers sometimes struggle with trusting their stuff to the same degree they had in the minors.
Instead, they might try to be too perfect, or they work around the zone instead of letting their stuff play as normal.
It was leading to Williams still being effective, but not efficient, and he wasn't pitching as deeply into games as perhaps he should. He went on the offensive Monday night.
"We just talked [after his previous start] about the fact that, look at the results you're getting when you're forced to throw it over the plate," said pitching coach Carl Willis. "The results you're getting are very, very good. And [we] kind of challenged him a little bit to be a little more aggressive."
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Williams carries with him the highest pedigree of the four rookies in the Guardians rotation — Tanner Bibee, Logan Allen, Xzavion Curry and Williams. The early returns of have been as advertised.
Through nine major-league starts, Williams has posted a 2.90 ERA with 49 strikeouts in 49⅔ innings. The only issue thus far has been his workload, as he had thrown five or fewer innings in four consecutive starts entering Monday.
Still, even though he hasn't been efficient, he also has a 1.80 ERA in his last five outings.
"We talked after his last start [in Houston], and I could sense in his face a little bit of frustration," Willis said. "He didn't make it through five [innings] because of pitch counts. And even in his prior start, five innings, 93 pitches. And he's doing all this, and he's not giving up very many hits or very many runs, and there's no lack of confidence.
"But I think this has been a fast path for him here, and I think he's still giving a little too much credit to major league hitters that do deserve credit, but a little too much."
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Twitter at @ByRyanLewis.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Guardians rookie Gavin Williams strikes out 12 batters
