Braves Outright Luke Williams

Infielder/outfielder Luke Williams has been sent outright to Triple-A Gwinnett, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. He has the right to elect free agency though the log doesn’t indicate he has done so.

Williams, 29, had spent parts of 2023 and all of 2024 as a versatile depth piece for Atlanta. However, he exhausted his final option season in 2024, which squeezed him to the edge of the roster. He was passed through waivers and outrighted in March of 2025, just before the season began.

He was called back up in early May and spent over three months on the active roster, but without much playing time. He got into 44 games but only stepped to the plate 33 times, mostly being used as a pinch runner or defensive replacement, in addition to some mop-up work on the mound. He stole five bases but slashed just .133/.182/.200 when he did get to hold the bat.

He landed on the injured list in late August due to an oblique strain. Shortly after being reinstated, he was designated for assignment to open a roster spot. He could have elected free agency this week but will seemingly stay with Gwinnett. According to the log, his outright actually occurred on September 6th. Since he hasn’t elected free agency in the intervening  four days, it seems fair to conclude he won’t do so.

If he’s not added back to the roster by the end of the season, he’ll have another chance to elect free agency at that time. He has just a .213/.271/.281 line in his big league career but has a decent Triple-A slash of .257/.339/.418 going back to the start of 2022. He can steal a few bases and has experience at every position on the diamond apart from catcher.

Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images