Carson Williams

Williams was hit on the hand by a pitch and exited a game June 12 before returning June 18. Before the hit-by-pitch, Williams slashed .294/.376/.552 with 10 home runs, 15 steals and a 27.1 percent strikeout rate in 49 games. After the HBP, he slashed .225/.331/.400 with 10 home runs, 17 steals, and a 29.6 percent strikeout rate in 66 games. It's possible the hand injury hurt his production and he'll be the pre-injury version of himself in 2025, and it's also possible the post-HBP decline was a coincidence and Williams is just the hitter we saw over the whole season (.256/.352/.469, 11.5 BB%, 28.5 K%). He has always had extremely strong tools with the exception of his hit tool -- his power, speed, defense and throwing arm all grading as at least plus. It's easy to get scared off by all the strikeouts, but players like Trevor Story and Jazz Chisholm had similar strikeout and walk rates to Williams in the minors and went on to be excellent fantasy options. The defensive component, particularly at shortstop where Tampa Bay lacks another quality long-term option, should buy Williams a lot of chances at the big-league level in the coming years. He should spend most, if not all of 2025 at Triple-A. Read Past Outlooks