The Cleveland Guardians had a trio of impressive young starters in 2023.
Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams, and Logan Allen took all the headlines and deservedly so, dominating in their first taste of major league hitters.
Williams started off his season with 14.1 absolutely dominant Double-A innings, in which he had a 0.63 ERA and struck out 20 hitters.
Then, in Triple-A, his ERA “jumped” to 2.93 in 46 frames.
Then the Guards called him up and he responded with a brilliant 3.29 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 82 innings.
Big things are expected from him in 2024, and he is off to a terrific start in spring training.
“#Guardians RHP Gavin Williams faced seven batters today striking out four making his spring debut vs the Angels including this strikeout of Mike Trout. Line – 2.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 1BB 4SO,” Guardians Prospective tweeted.
#Guardians RHP Gavin Williams faced seven batters today striking out four making his spring debut vs the Angels including this strikeout of Mike Trout.
Line – 2.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 1BB 4SO#GuardsSpring pic.twitter.com/d7UPCYmsRa
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) February 29, 2024
That’s actually dominant stuff from Williams: only a walk stood between him and a perfect spring outing.
He is looking dominant and is one of the most exciting young arms in the American League.
The Guardians have so much depth that they might elect to send Williams to Triple-A to open the year, but that would be the wrong choice.
He is, quite comfortably, one of the best five pitchers in a Guardians rotation that also has Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie, Bibee, Allen, Xzavion Curry, Ben Lively, Hunter Gaddis, and Carlos Carrasco as options.
With the best combination of five hurlers from that group and a few breakout performances on the offensive side, there is a chance Cleveland makes the playoffs this year after their disappointing 76-86 showing in 2023.
NEXT: Guardians Insider Shares Injury Updates On 3 Key Players
