The Pirates sent infielder Alika Williams outright to Triple-A Indianapolis, reports Alex Stumpf of MLB.com. Pittsburgh designated him for assignment earlier in the week as the corresponding move for the Tim Mayza signing.
Williams has appeared in 83 games over the past two seasons. Pittsburgh acquired the former supplemental first-round pick from the Rays in a swap for reliever Robert Stephenson in 2023. The Bucs called him up not too long after. They’ve given Williams 207 plate appearances within the past couple seasons. He hasn’t made an impact at the plate, hitting .202/.257/.271 with no home runs.
The offensive upside has been a longstanding question. Prospect evaluators have praised his defense at both middle infield positions. Williams has shown solid strike zone awareness in the minor leagues, but he has never shown much power. He has 27 homers in nearly 1300 minor league plate appearances. His batted ball metrics at both the MLB and Triple-A levels have been middling, though his contact skills have translated to a solid .299/.376/.447 line over 367 Triple-A plate appearances.
This is the first time that Williams has been outrighted. He does not have the right to decline the assignment in favor of free agency. He’ll stick with the Bucs without occupying a 40-man spot and will get a non-roster invitation to Spring Training later this month.
Guess they didn’t Alova him enough…
Alika the way you think.
His glove is sick and he’s still young-ish
I knew it. He’ll be back, I’m sure.
In other words the Rays drafted another Taylor Walls.
Yeah, Alika is a great glove/no stick
And that tag applies to so many of the Pirates
They’ll be running the Indy Shuttle a great deal again this coming season
it says alot that he cleared waivers
no one else wanted him
This is a team that was near the bottom of the league in runs scored
Alika needs how to drive the ball to the gaps because he lacks home run power and that’s the only way he can be productive in the majors
So many projects here that in one way or the other, came through their farm system, whether via draft or trade
This kid. Castro. Triolo. Peguero. Hayes. Davis. Suwinski and a whole host of outfield prospects.
Again, was is poor scouting or poor development, or both?
Considering Ben used a #1 draft pick for Davis and he’s never done anything exceptional in the major or sending Jack to Indy to work on his swing and that didn’t help. I would say it’s a combination of both
Maybe the new hitting coach???
They should’ve just released him.
Damnnnnn
He has been generally good in the minors. If nothing else he can push Altoona or Indy to wome wins. Defensive depth is nice to have as well
Joe, they’re all generally good in the minors. That’s the problem here. They’re rarely good in the majors
I have to laugh that folks think Jack, Davis, this kid and the rest are suddenly going to become big time hitters with a new hitting coach
Again, you can’t get blood from a stone
I do think a lot of it is development since there is such a wide spread between their minor league and major league production. If you hit well at every minor league stop, the talent has to be there.
He is one my kids’ personal favorites – we’ve been rooting hard for him to get his first dinger (we predicted one at STH Photo Day just before the game again Seattle; he’d get a hanging slider and launch it – he did get a hanger and missed a HR by a foot or two).
Yeah, he’s a bottom-of-the-roster type – but I’d still hate to see him go for the sake of two young boys who are probably his biggest fans.