Cubs sign interesting bounceback candidate with Trevor Williams

 In a move to shake up their shaky starting pitching the Cubs have signed former Pirates RHP Trevor Williams according to Evan Altman of the Cubs Insider. The deal is pending a physical, but once completed will pay Williams $2.5 million according to Jon Heyman.

Williams, 28, opted for free agency after being designated for assignment by the Pirates after an incredibly disappointing 2020 season. In 11 starts Williams allowed a 6.18 ERA in 55.1 innings pitched allowing an alarming 15 home runs along with 49 strikeouts and 21 walks. Blaming the shortened season would be fair, but he also had a disappointing 2019 campaign as well posting a 5.38 ERA while showing the same issue with home runs and being very hittable in general.

However, Williams has had a success as recently as 2018 where he threw 170.2 innings with a 3.11 ERA, and while he only struck out 126 batters with a below average whiff rate, he did do a good job of limiting hard contact ranking as among the best pitchers in average exit velocity and hard hit percentage. 

Like the rest of his potential rotation mates Williams is not exactly a hard-thrower with a four-seam fastball that averages 91.5 MPH that he throws 51 percent of the time. He works off the fastball with a slider in the lower 80s and a mid-80s change-up. He also throws a sinker and curveball sparingly. 

What's interesting is that in his breakout 2018 season he actually used the sinker as his secondary pitch and the slider was used just 15 percent of the time, but his sinker was probably his worst pitch, while his slider was the most used put-away pitch and induced a whiff nearly 30 percent of the time. Starting in 2019 he begun using the slider much more and the sinker significantly less to mixed results.

 In 2020 the slider was hit around to a .348 batting average against, but it's worth noting that Baseball Savant says the expected batting average against the pitch was .232. When batters made contact they only hit it at a 85.6 MPH rate with a launch angle of only 5. Despite the struggles with the pitch he also induced a whiff 39.8 percent of the time. If he can get his slider right it has the potential to be an excellent put-away pitch for Williams.

This is a really shrewd move going for an upside guy like Williams. The rotation still has question marks, but if Williams can bounceback he will be a key member of the rotation. What's even better is that he has one more season of arbitration eligibility left so if the Cubs like what they see he will be around for another season, but if they don't they will be able to cut ties.