The Nationals released veteran righty Trevor Williams yesterday after he passed through waivers unclaimed, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Washington had designated the 34-year-old righty for assignment last week.
Today’s release closest the book on Williams’ second two-year deal with the Nats. The second didn’t go nearly as well as the first. A UCL injury last summer required surgery that sidelined Williams for the bulk of the current season. Upon being activated a few days before the trade deadline, Williams slotted into the team’s bullpen. He’s pitched in a multi-inning role and been generally effective, logging a 2.65 ERA in 17 innings. He’s fanned a huge 31% of his opponents against a sharp 8.5% walk rate.
Those are big numbers, which might make the DFA and release a bit surprising, but the Nats are presumably granting a veteran right-hander the courtesy of allowing him to latch on with a contending club down the stretch. They’ll also free up some innings to give to arms who might be on the roster next year.
There are also some questions about just how sustainable this success could be. Williams is averaging just 89.9 mph on his four-seamer and sporting an 11.3% swinging-strike rate; that’s not much north of league average and doesn’t really support the right-hander continuing to pile up strikeouts as he’s done thus far.
If Williams has already cleared release waivers, he’ll have time to latch on with another club ahead of tomorrow’s postseason eligibility deadline. Even if it’s on a minor league deal, he could be added to the postseason roster. That would technically require the new club to petition for Williams as a replacement for someone on the injured list, but such exceptions are commonplace every year. So long as he’s in a new organization at some point today in any capacity, he could be eligible if he continues to pitch well.
Williams will end up having spent parts of four seasons with the Nationals. He posted an ERA north of 5.00 as an innings-eating fifth starter in 2023, dominated for 13 starts in 2024 before injuries cut his season short, and struggled through 17 starts before last year’s UCL tear. All told, his time as a National ends with a 4.81 ERA in 310 2/3 innings. Washington paid him $27MM over those four seasons and received rate stats pretty well in line with Williams’ career marks: 4.43 ERA, 19.1% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate, 41.1% ground-ball rate in 1026 major league frames.
