Williams reaches sixth inning in solid start vs. Astros

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Trevor Williams walked off the mound at the end of the fifth inning and stopped to chat with pitching coach Jim Hickey at the dugout steps. He had thrown 87 pitches, completed five solid frames and easily could’ve called it a night.

Indeed, this is usually the point when Williams’ nights did end last season, even when he pitched exceptionally well.

But during that conversation, Williams and Hickey agreed the right-hander could re-take the mound for the bottom of the sixth, just to face one more batter. Which Williams did, adding four more pitches to his total before finally departing for good.

“Felt great,” he said after the Nats’ 4-3 exhibition win over the Astros. “We wanted to get six ups and get as close to 90-95 pitches as we could. And we checked those boxes.”

Williams topped the 90-pitch mark only three times in his 13 regular season starts in 2024, and he reached the sixth inning only five times all year. Not because of ineffectiveness, but because of concern his effectiveness would wane if he went any deeper.

Williams hopes that trend changes somewhat this season. With a full winter to get his body ready for the workload of a full-time starter, the 32-year-old believes he’s physically ready for a heavier workload.

Now it’s up to his manager whether to allow it on a regular basis.

“You know, he did really well (last season) and then he got hurt and he missed some time,” Davey Martinez said. “I want to keep him healthy, that’s the biggest thing. We’ll see how it goes throughout the year. Yeah, of course if he’s throwing the ball well, we want to get him up to 90 pitches or so. But it’s one pitch at a time right now, and we’re trying to get him ready for the season.”

Williams did his usual thing tonight. He threw everything down in the zone and induced mostly weak contact. The Astros did total six hits off him, but a couple of those came on plays that weren’t made in the field. He gave up three runs, but one of them was unearned after shortstop CJ Abrams let a sharp grounder get under his glove as he charged in on the ball.

Using his full arsenal of pitches, Williams did record six strikeouts without issuing a walk. He got Houston’s batters looking three times, getting them to whiff on three more occasions.

“He’s down, everything works,” Martinez said. “His changeup was good. His sweeper was really good. But he had late life on his fastball today, which was awesome. We continue to trend in the right direction.”

Williams said he approached tonight’s game as if it was in the regular season, the first time he’s done that this spring.

“We had a pregame meeting,” he said. “We had our pregame routines. Everything was on the table as far as getting as many outs as possible. I think we did a good job of that, mixing locations, speeds and pitches. (Catcher Riley Adams) and I were pretty much on the same page all day. Midseason form, if you will.”

But was the end of Williams’ outing what we’ll see in midseason? Will he be cut off after five innings, regardless of the situation? Will he get a chance to come back out for the sixth and potentially approach the coveted 100-pitch mark?

“Whatever Davey calls on me that day, whether it’s 27 outs, 18 outs or anything in between,” Williams said in diplomatic fashion. “I’m looking forward to helping the team every five days to the best of my ability. If we go deep into games, great. If not, and he takes the ball out of my hands in the fifth inning and turns it over to our bullpen who is doing great, awesome. As long as we can have a chance to win the game every five days when I’m on the mound, I’m happy.”