Lafayette Jeff pitcher Miles Williams wears No. 42 to embody ideals of Jackie Robinson

LAFAYETTE — Standing over the railing during a soggy afternoon at Loeb Stadium was the quiet figure of senior left-handed pitcher Miles Williams.

The expression on Williams' face lay daggered on the field as his team found itself with a 5-3 lead against Guerin Catholic. Williams had thrown 2 1/3 innings, but his arm was being saved for the upcoming IHSAA postseason. Yet, his body language never changed, even after the Bronchos had squandered yet another perhaps frustrating loss.

Although Lafayette Jeff finished the regular season 5-20, Williams learned from an early age to keep his cool.

No shouting at teammates and certainly not giving a hint or scent that he might be angry.

"If you show emotion on the field, you show people you’re hurting in some type of way, then they are going to dig into it and know they are getting into you," Williams said. "The easiest thing for me is to be nonchalant and don’t show it to my teammates and leave whatever happened in the past, in the past. You can’t change anything so you might as well work towards the future.”

It seems appropriate then for Williams to wear No. 42, just like his heroes Jackie Robinson and Mariano Rivera given all the struggles he's overcome.

"I take it as something I have to live up to,” Williams said. “I think it’s a big chip I get to carry on my shoulders to be the best player I can be regardless of the adversity I’ve gone through.”

Williams has signed a scholarship to Wabash College and carries a sterling GPA in addition to the success he's found on the mound as Lafayette Jeff's ace on the mound.

He carries a 6.40 ERA with 41 strikeouts and 28 walks. While the numbers for Williams aren't otherworldly, the leadership he's brought to the Bronchos has been invaluable for the culture coach Clayton Richards is creating to eventually form a state contending program.

"We want to put him out there as much as possible for the next generation for guys to watch him do the things he does well," Lafayette Jeff coach Clayton Richard said. "You watch his work ethic and watch how he goes about his business because when you start doing that consistency, that’s how you start building a program consistently that does well.”

Plight from Michigan

Williams came to Lafayette when he was 4 years old after his mother Lee Ann Alexander and father Jimmy Williams were separated in 2010.

Raised by a single mom, Williams had already shown glimpses as a toddler playing catch with Jimmy in the backyard.

"He was throwing hard like he was 12 years old," Alexander said.

Williams claims his first baseball childhood memory was attending a Detroit Tigers game at Comerica Park in Detroit. He experienced the bright lights and sounds and remembered how thrilling it would be to play a game Williams instantly fell in love with after his first game of catch with his father.

And as Williams grew older, he understood quickly what life as a professional athlete could mean. Not only to throw and pitch but to give Lee Ann a better life.

When Alexander moved back to her childhood home of Lafayette, she struggled to find jobs before she became an administrative assistant at Wabash National. A decade's work at Wabash National was cut short and Williams was forced to retire due to ongoing health problems related to being infected with COVID-19 in 2021.

"Sometimes I wonder how he got all the strength he had," Alexander said. "I've done 50% of his upbringing and he's done the other 50%. He's had an innate strong character since he was a little boy."

Williams uses every opportunity he can to pitch and prove he's worthy of potentially becoming a professional.

"She’s helped me get through situations where I didn’t think we were going to make it out,” Williams said. “She’s helped me through mental health battles. School. Education. Baseball. Everything."

Learning under former MLB pitcher Clayton Richard

Richard was in his fifth season MLB season pitching for the San Diego Padres in 2011 when he met his future player at one of the camps he hosted in Lafayette during the offseason.

Over a decade later, the two are a regular part of each other's lives. Richard has mentored Williams while allowing the 18-year-old to craft and refine a naturally rising fastball and slider.

"What he does and something I didn’t do as well is his ability to backspin it and ride up on guys in the zone," Richard said. "hey have trouble catching up to it and he has a really tough slider that tones really well with his fastball.”

While the statistics might tell a story, Williams can dictate the strike zone with his movement. The natural cuts and breaks on his fastball show his potential and what he could become if he pitched faster. For now, Williams is taking the short grind of 5-20 and turning it into a positive.

Once again leaning into his mother's wisdom to overcome any challenge before him through hard work and a stoic demeanor.

"She tells me if I don’t go out and do something then there’s people that are going to outwork me, outdo me and make it farther than I want to go," Williams said.

Progress isn't always in the result but in the application — a key that Richard points out about Williams' path in baseball.

“Each student-athlete is different and their needs are different," Richard said. "What might be advantageous for Miles might not be the most advantageous for the next pitcher."

Williams' path is focused singularly on the pros

Getting to the major leagues will take Williams to Wabash College, a program that has produced five major league players. Still, the last was Don Leppard — an Indianapolis native who last played for the Washington Senators in 1964.

Williams hopes to break that trend.

"I understand that it’s going to be a long and stressful process but I’m willing to do whatever it takes," Williams said. It’s been Plan A since I was three years old. I have a Plan B but it’s hard to think about it when you have a strong desire for Plan A.”

And Richard, who won a World Series ring for the Chicago Cubs in 2016, has all the confidence in Williams.

"Every coach will see the work ethic and he'll be deserving of it of a chance to perform," Richard said. "He's going to do that consistently enough and that gives you a chance to move on. That's what's special in him."

Williams is armed with a rising fastball and a cut-rate slider that has shown flashes of the dominant pitcher he could become. After all, he has to do it for himself, the little boy who saw those lights at Comerica Park, and for his mom.

"You can get all the information in the world but in the long run it’s how you implement the skills you learn and apply it to your own game,” Williams said.

Wherever this postseason takes Lafayette Jeff, Richard hopes there are plenty of kids watching Williams toe the rubber as he tries to defy the odds.

"We want the younger generation to wear No. 42 because they saw Miles Williams pitch," Richard said.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Lafayette Jeff pitcher Miles Williams wears No. 42 for Jackie Robinson