Harper heating up, hits another homer as Phils sweep Rockies
Slugger homers for second straight day as Phillies sweep the Rockies
PHILADELPHIA >> To Nick Williams, it was just another early Sunday morning in the clubhouse, the music lower than usual, the players quieter, the atmosphere calm. His kind of day.
“It’s a blessing to put on a big-league uniform every day with your name on the back, whether it says ‘Phillies’ or whatever,” he would say, reaching into his locker stall, running his fingers across a crisp, white game-day jersey. “And right now it says ‘Phillies.’ So I am going to do whatever I can to help this team win.”
A blessing. A gift. A baseball morning, one of many in his three major-league seasons. A chance, one of too few in this, the most challenging season of his professional life.
Always a hitter, legendary in his hometown of Galveston, Texas, for the way he could launch long home runs with ease, Williams has always believed in his own major-league abilities. But it’s not every team that signs not one, but two former recent National League MVP outfielders in the same offseason. And as long as Bryce Harper and Andrew McCutchen were blessed (and paid) to wear Phillies uniforms, too, Williams would be reclassified from rising star to fourth outfielder. And that challenge hadn’t been going well. Used mostly as a pinch-hitter, Williams had been batting .180 with one home run in 38 games. Even though he’d mixed in some aggressive, effective defense, that wasn’t going to make it with a franchise whose owner had been “a little stupid” about spending and was no longer in a mood to rebuild.
“I grind my teeth quite a bit because I’m just so used to just hitting,” Williams said. “I’ve always hit. I don’t ever believe I can’t hit. I was talking to Cutch (McCutchen), and he said, ‘If I was doing what you are doing, I can’t say I would be doing any better either.’ He said it was just really tough. He told me I was a young guy and to keep positive. And he always tells me that I am an everyday player. He keeps me positive. He’s been actually the most important person to me here. He always has good things to say. He keeps me positive and helps me look at things a little bit differently, which is a help.”
That was the outline for Williams when the Phillies acquired him in a 2015 package for franchise legend Cole Hamels. At some point, he would be the left-handed power hitter to complete what the club warned would be a lengthy period of rebuilding. And when he showed some minorleague power and finally was promoted to the Phillies in 2017, it was a story big enough for some news media to hustle to CitiField in New York that night just to record the moment.
In 83 games as a
23-year-old rookie, Williams drilled 15 home runs, intriguing if not record-setting. Last season, his second in the majors, he hit another
17. If he wasn’t a developing star, he was not out of place in that major-league jersey. Then, in one offseason, it all changed. Then, in one strange Sunday, it changed again. For with no warning, that quiet morning in that clubhouse would be his last for a while. Soon, or just moments after the press had been shooed away, the Phillies would make it official: Scott Kingery would be released from the injured list and start in center field against the Colorado Rockies, and to clear roster space, Williams would be pointed to Allentown.
That’s how it is with the Phillies. They are no longer in the development business and they are famously out of patience. Nick Pivetta wasn’t pitching well, and he was dumped to the Pigs. Vince Velasquez was sputtering, and he was rolled onto the injured list. Aaron Altherr, not long ago a major rebuilding piece and a longshot All-Star candidate, wasn’t hitting and was tossed.
So Nick Williams’ turn it was Sunday, even if the Phillies were reluctant to be so blunt about their new, produce-now policy.
“I think this is more about Nick and what’s best for him, and about how we can get him back to where he needs to be,” assistant general manager Ned Rice said. “Obviously we want more production out of the guys from the bench. This is more about wanting him to go down and get reps.”
To a point, that’s what Williams was seeking as he reported to work, talking about how he’d had so very few plate appearances, just 65 into mid-May. “With that being said,” he said, “just a good two days can turn that around.”
So there won’t be two days of quick chances for Williams, at least not in the big leagues. So he’ll take some Class AAA reps and be ready. Aware that one injured oblique to one of their outfielders could change everything, the Phillies need to have Williams fresh. They will also need him to be hitting better, even if it is in the Lehigh Valley, should they want to include him in any trade.
“If you are thinking longevity, maybe there can be opportunities elsewhere, but right now I am not worried about that,” Williams said. “I have had relationships with these guys. And it would be emotional if I wound up on another team because I believe I can help this team win.”
Someday, he could do that again.
“I wear this Phillies jersey proud,” he said, on a blessing of a quiet Sunday morning soon to turn quieter.