Jerome Williams: Who Is This Dude?

Jerome Williams is set to take the mound tonight with a chance to pull the Halos back within 2.5 games of the division-leading Texas Rangers.

Over the last couple of weeks I have heard quite a few Angel fans mutter “Who the hell is this guy?”

The confusion is justified. Last summer, every Halos fan knew exactly who Dan Haren was when he made his debut at the Big A.

On that note, many Angel fans were well-aware of top prospect Garrett Richards long before his arrival in Anaheim.

But Williams’ journey to Anaheim was very much off the beaten path.

If you’re reading aloud, take a deep breath…

Jerome Williams was drafted out of high school in the 1st round of the June draft by the San Francisco Giants. Williams was considered one of the top pitching prospects in the game and made his major league debut before his 22nd birthday. In 2003, The big right-hander found early success, tossing 131 innings of 3.30 baseball in the Giants run to a division title. In 2004, Williams made 22 starts and picked up 10 wins with a serviceable 4.24 ERA.

Early in 2005, Williams was dealt to the Chicago Cubs and finished the season with a 4.26 ERA in 123 innings.

In 2006, Williams made the big league club out of camp, but his stay in the rotation didn’t last long. On April 21st, the Cardinals blasted Williams for 7 earned runs over just an inning and a third. After the game, Williams was demoted to AAA where he made 29 starts and posted a sub-par 4.76 ERA. His performance ultimately led to the end of his run in Chicago when the Cubs cut him in September.

In 2007, Williams was picked up by the Nationals and again broke camp with a spot on the big league roster. However, Williams lasted only six starts in the big leagues and posted a 7.20 ERA which earned him a one-way ticket back to the minors. Williams was sent to AA where he struggled mightily before being cut by the Nationals and picked up by the Twins. New place, same story. Williams threw 11 innings of bad baseball in the Minnesota farm system.

In the summer of 2008, the Dodgers signed Jerome to a minor league deal but he never made an appearance for the big league club.

The A’s took a shot on the righty in 2009. Williams gave them 100 innings of 5.58 ball for their AAA affiliate, but again, never reached the show.

Williams didn’t pitch again until the Halos took a stab on the former top prospect earlier this year. Jerome found moderate success in AAA-Salt Lake (a hitter’s haven) spinning a 3.91 ERA over 74 innings. Injuries and under-performance by the Angels rotation opened the door for Williams to get one last shot at the major league level. Although his sample size is small (17.2 IP), he seems to be making the most of the opportunity.

The question is: If this coveted prospect couldn’t cut it for the last handful of years, why should we believe he can step up and help the Halos down this critical stretch?

To answer this question, we need to look at why Williams flopped in the first place. In his rookie year of 2003, Williams posted an acceptable (6.05 K/9) strikeout rate. It’s not a dominate strikeout rate, but it will do the trick. Unfortunately for Williams, this is the high water mark for his career. His ability to strike batters out dwindled all the way down to around four strikeouts per nine innings.

Coupled with his inability to get the strike out, Williams also saw what was already a fairly high walk rate (~3.5 BB/9 from 2003-2005) jump to over five walks per nine innings. Handing out more free passes than punch outs is not going to work at any level of baseball.

So what’s different about Williams in 2011? A couple of things. For one, his strike out rate sits over seven strikeouts per nine innings (in both AAA and the majors). On top of the added K’s, Williams has managed a sub-2 BB/9; an elite rate that matches the likes of control artists like Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, and Dan Haren.

Okay. So why is this castaway striking out batters and minimizing walks at career best rates?

I can’t say for certain, but he’s clearly made drastic changes about the way he goes about retiring hitters.

Pre-Halos, Williams threw his fastball (88-89 MPH) over 60% of the time. He complimented his “heater” with a fairly average slider and change up, as well as a handful of curve balls. However, since his arrival in Anaheim, Williams has relied less on the fastball (45%) which now sits at 91-92 MPH, and feeds hitters a heavy dose of cutters (32%) and change ups (18%). He’ll still drop the occasional hook from time to time.

By the way, if that profile sounds familiar, Williams’ pitch selection is eerily similar to Dan Haren’s with the exception Haren uses the splitter as his go-to off-speed pitch, not the change up.

The new-look Williams has caused batters to swing and miss nearly 15% of the time, a far cry from his career average around 9%.

Alright, so the added strike outs make sense, but how has he managed to cut down on all of the free passes?

One can’t say for sure how Williams has managed to cut down his walks so significantly. However, it’s evident Williams is going after hitters and getting ahead in the count. Jerome has thrown a first-pitch strike 65% of the time which is well above his career average of 56%. Getting ahead in the count has allowed Williams to take control of the at bat and force hitters to swing at a “pitcher’s pitch”, which is demonstrated by hitters chasing 38% of balls out of the strike zone (league average is around 30%).

Hopefully, this leaves you with an idea of how the one-time-can’t-miss prospect has re-invented himself since his return to the big leagues. However, the million dollar question is: Can he continue this success over the next three weeks?

We’ll get part of the answer to that question tonight as Williams takes the bump against the Seattle Mariners.

Feel free to send any questions or article suggestions to cbragg84@gmail.com

Editor’s note: Williams pitched perhaps his best game last night in the Angels’ 3-1 win, bring them to 2 1/2 games behind Texas with the New York Yankees coming to Angel Stadium this weekend.