The Phillies announced this afternoon they’ve designated utilityman Luke Williams for assignment. The move opens space on the 40-man roster for Nick Castellanos, whose five-year deal has been made official.
Philadelphia selected Williams in the third round of the 2015 draft. The right-handed hitter methodically climbed the minor league ladder, never posting overwhelming numbers but making plus rates of contact throughout his pro career. He opened the 2021 campaign with Triple-A Lehigh Valley and earned his first big league call in June.
Williams tallied 108 MLB plate appearances last year, hitting .245/.315/.316 with one home run and a pair of stolen bases. He made contact on 85% of his swings — around nine points above the league average — but he only managed five extra-base hits. It was a similar story in Lehigh Valley, where he hit .270/.329/.341 without a homer in 143 trips to the dish.
To his credit, Williams suited up all over the diamond for manager Joe Girardi. He started games at each of second base, third base, shortstop, left field and center field last year. Baseball America named him the #17 prospect in the Phillies system this offseason, writing that his combination of defensive aptitude and bat-to-ball skills could make him a decent option off the bench even if his lack of power probably prevents him from emerging as a regular.
The Phils will have a week to trade Williams or place him on waivers. The 25-year-old still has all three minor league option years remaining, so he’d be a flexible multi-positional depth piece for any acquiring team.
Great. The Angels should pick him up.
I thought Luke could Force his way into the lineup.
Future Pirate or a WSox claim
I don’t think people realize just how good the Phillies are going to be this year. Easily one of the top three NL teams. My pick to come out of the highly stacked NL East.
I don’t think people realize how terrible their defence is going to be, because they’re just fans who build teams on video games. They have 3 guys best suited for a DH role. And about 6 guys that could probably move down the defensive spectrum.
I disagree. Realmuto and Segura provide excellent defense. It’s only 4 other guys to worry about…..
iverbure I think everyone knows how bad their defense is going to be because we saw it for 3 years. Also Schwarber is actually a better defender than Cutch as insane as that sounds. So while still terrible, the Phillies defense is slightly better than it was last year.
This is true and none of the fans,at least on the Phillies reddit, want to admit how terrible Cutch was as a defender. I wonder if Nick Castellanos is a better defender at 3B than Bohm
I didn’t think Williams would be the one to get DFA’d.
He can’t hit. He’s a 5th OFer at best
The Phillies scored enough runs and played enough defense to win the division going away last year 32 blown saves was the difference. Add nicky,ky and 3 veteran arms all with closer resumes and I’m looking at the Phillies as a world series contender.
They didn’t score enough last year. Harper carried them for the last half of the year. I agree that the 2 new additions will strengthen the lineup
They were winning 32 times friend ,game in hand,game over,enough runs scored,then BOOM ! Blown save ! Win gone.
People need to understand that 32 blown saves don’t convert into 32 wins. The Phillies won many of those games or in multiple cases blew more than 1 save in a game. In fact, the Braves blown saves led to more losses than the Phillies’ blown saves did. And the Braves now have one of the best pens in baseball. So while there’s reason to be hopeful, the Phillies are a long way away from Atlanta.
A win in hand my friend,then lost is a blown save.
Right, but my point is they won a lot of blown save games in 2021. There’s no denying an improved pen will help, but my point is the Braves improved pen matters even more because their 2021 blown saves actually resulted in more losses.
A blown save occurs when a relief pitcher enters a game in a save situation, but allows the tying run to score.
So a blown save is not always loss.
Not necessarily true. The Braves had 27 blown saves. Sure, if the Phillies had won say, 8 of the games they lost due to a blown save they would have had 8 more wins but the same goes for Atlanta. If they had won the same 8 games that their bullpen lost, they still would have finished ahead of the Phillies. It works both ways.
Well at least he has wrestling to fall back on en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bushwhackers
I met these guys in 1990 flying to LA.
Very approachable
really? why Luke?
Nick Maton break out in 3..2..1…
Maton looked good today. I’d rather see him out there than Bohm. I was surprised by this though. Luke seemed like a good dude
He did, but Bohm has a significantly higher upside. He hasn’t looked right yet though.
Those violent Sheepherders
Williams had one of the coolest moments of the last decade or so with his debut walkoff.
Really for me the best moment of last season.
I think second to the Miller slam, but it’s close. I was lucky enough to see both and they were both amazing.
Miller’s was cooler, but Luke’s moment was a better story with his family being there and all.
At least he’ll spare us the ridiculous walk up song
BIG – Gimme the Loot?
That’s what I’ll miss the most about him. Always love when some of these young guys have classics like that.
Jays fans like Philly players named Williams.
We don’t talk about M. “Bruno” Williams.
Probably see another Williams this coming October Toronto vs Philly 1993 all over again!
I’ll bet anything the Giant will try and get him.
Surprised it was Luke but they have enough guys like him already on the position player side. Side note: Seranthony looked great today.
What kind of management looks at their team, sees that the bullpen and defense are horrible, adds more bad defense, and does nothing about the bullpen? Bad management, that’s what kind. Anthopolous is LIGHT YEARS ahead of the failies brass. Light years.
Knebel, Hand, Familia. They added quite a bit to the bullpen. Those are 3 big additions. And while defense is still a hole, the offense was a big hole as well. That’s been addressed. They didn’t fix everything, but they fixed a lot. I agree about Anthopolous being way ahead of the Phillies, but it’s a completely different situation. The Phillies haven’t developed much significant talent over the last decade or so. They’re stuck in limbo and they were able to buy a decent offense. Not the ideal way to win by any means.
The sad part is Knebel, Hand, Familia, and the rest of the bullpen are going to have blown saves. It’s inevitable. The perfect 2008 Lidge season was an anomaly, and probably won’t happen again any time soon. Since then people have the Lidge Syndrome and expect every reliever to save every game every time. When any of the current relievers should dare to blow a save, you can expect the same fans as last year to go ballistic and rant, scream, whine, and cry again…..
The keys to Lidge’s 2008 success were excellent defense (Sorry 2022 Phils) and some brillant setup men in Romero and Madson. Lidge never had to pitch the 8th. Not once. That’s incredible.
Valverde was a perfect 49/49 in 2011
Seranthony Dominguez will help also
I disagree. The Phillies have been horrible when it comes to player development for several years now. I think Luke Williams can be a star for a team that will take his talent to the next level. I think this one will be yet ANOTHER decision that will come back to haunt the team.
I liked Williams,wish him the best