Rays are running into same Ben Williamson problem that Mariners couldn't solve

Ben Williamson didn't get much of a chance to have a Mariners legacy. In less than a year, he went from being a mildly hyped prospect to a fringe major leaguer to out the door via the Ben Williamson trade. He's a Ray now, and why the Mariners were comfortable moving him shows every time he hits.

Mind you, Williamson's bat isn't the reason he has a spot on Tampa Bay's roster. His defense has been his carrying talent ever since he went to the Mariners in the second round of the 2023 draft, and it's occasionally showed in his new role as a semi-everyday middle infielder.

Yet while Williamson is batting .250 on the offensive side, it's not a solid .250. He's getting on base at just a .318 clip and slugging .338.

Sound familiar? It should. Albeit with more frequent walks, Williamson's current offensive performance is in line with what he did in 85 games with Seattle last year, in which he slashed .253/.394/.310 with one home run. His defense at the hot corner boosted his rWAR to 1.3 anyway, but it was a happy day when he was switched out for Eugenio Suárez at the trade deadline.

The 25-year-old's batted ball metrics don't paint a rosier picture. His exit velocity and hard-hit rate are actually down from last season, and now rank in the bottom 20 percent among hitters. He hasn't registered a barrel on any of the 62 balls he's put in play.

Ben Williamson's limp bat could prevent Rays from making a productive major leaguer out of him

The Mariners tried to address this element of Williamson's game, specifically by stressing how to gear his swing for power after he was sent down to Tacoma following the Suárez trade. And for a minute there, it seemed to work when he subsequently went on a power surge.

Even so, that Williamson was basically handed off as a spare part makes one wonder if the Mariners ever really believed in his Triple-A resurgence. And now, the Rays seem to have a different idea for how to improve his offense.

His launch angle is up in a range that is conducive to line drives and not fly balls. He also still has an extreme opposite-field approach. Those two things put together should be working. Yet even when a guy is using the whole field and hitting more line drives, an average exit velocity of 87.2 mph is evidently still a problem.

Speaking of problems, Williamson has basically been a replacement-level performer, with -0.1 rWAR and 0.0 fWAR. That could change if DRS or OAA starts rating his second base defense more positively, but both are firmly in the red for now. Third base thus still looks like his best spot.

He remains a project, in other words. And while it is interesting that the Rays are taking a different approach for how to solve him, it's not exactly a bad look for the Mariners that the Rays are hitting at least one familiar wall.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow