Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Center fielder continuing to stick it out with Trojans
Three years is by no means an eternity.
Except in the world of college baseball, where the usual flow of transfers has recently swelled into a tidal wave, exacerbated by a bonus year as a product of a global pandemic and the advent of the transfer portal plus name, image and likeness opportunities.
In that case, three years is more than enough to entirely reshape a roster. Which is why Tyler Williams seems relatively unbothered when thinking through the players still at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock who also were there when he arrived in 2020.
Infielder Christian Bernabe, pitcher Calvin Hunt and pitcher Erik McKnight — that’s the list.
Trojans Coach Chris Curry also isn’t fazed by the fact that UALR, which begins its 2023 season this afternoon at home against South Dakota State, has 19 new players. Curry has talked with enough coaches across the country to know that’s just a matter of life in college baseball, especially when having an older, more mature team is particularly of value.
That alone makes Williams, set to begin his fourth season as the Trojans’ starting center fielder, stand out.
“He’s played since the first day he stepped foot on campus in center field on a good team,” Curry said of Williams. “What I’ve been most impressed with is the maturity and leadership steps that he’s taken this year.
“He’s not a vocal guy. He’s not a rah-rah, call out the team speech guy. But what he has done is show up every day and be consistent about the way he goes about his business.”
From the lineup that Curry rolled out in UALR’s final game a year ago, only three position players return: Williams, shortstop Aidan Garrett and catcher Jake Wright.
Together, they’ll again comprise the Trojans’ literal and figurative backbone, holding down the middle of UALR’s defense. But neither Garrett nor Wright are as vital to the Trojans as Williams.
The 6-3, 205-pound native of Lilburn, Ga., will be one of the first names Curry puts down on his lineup card — just as he has the past two years, starting 101 of a possible 102 games. Occasionally, Williams will hit leadoff. But more likely, he’ll slot in somewhere between second and fourth.
Curry has that flexibility because of Williams’ growth as a hitter. Williams’ batting average has ticked up from .220 to .288 to .302. After posting on-base percentages of .316 his first two seasons, Williams jumped to .369 in 2022.
Although his slugging percentage and home run total dropped last season — something Curry says was a product of Williams trying to cut down on strikeouts and become a better contact hitter — the Trojans’ coach noted that Williams hit six home runs in the span of 40 at-bats during UALR’s fall season.
Williams also stole 21 bases last season, more than double his 2021 total.
“When Tyler gets on first, it’s probably going to be a double or a triple,” Curry explained, “because he’s going to run for the next two or three pitches and be in scoring position for you.”
If it seems like all the pieces of Williams’ on-field game are coming together, the senior said he believes he’s only added to things with his mental approach.
While playing in the MLB Draft League, a summer wood-bat league featuring top draft-eligible prospects, Williams had to train himself to just play and have fun.
“I had to learn how to not take the game so seriously,” Williams said. “Not worrying about what’s going to happen in the future or not worrying about what just happened. … That’s when I played the best, honestly.”
Although Williams wasn’t one of three preseason AllOhio Valley Conference outfielders, Curry said he expects Williams to play his way into consideration for the league’s Player of the Year award.
Not that the Trojans are under any impression the Ohio Valley will be a cakewalk. But it’s going to be different than playing in the Sun Belt Conference — which just added perennially ranked Southern Miss after sending four teams to the NCAA Tournament a year ago.
Williams has never thought about being anywhere other than Little Rock. No one ever approached him with a transfer opportunity.
And if UALR is going to get back to a regional — something the program has done only once, in 2011 — Williams will be more than wanted. He’ll be needed.
“Be a better leader and help the team win a championship,” Williams said when asked about his personal goals for the season. “That’s pretty much it.”