Trevor

Williams

Williams will be out for at least two weeks with the injury, but there’s no timetable for his return yet as the injury occurred sometime after his start against Atlanta on Thursday. Washington has recalled DJ Herz to make the start against the Mets on Tuesday in Williams’ place. There should be further updates on the 32-year-old’s status in the coming days.

Williams walked two and struck out four before leaving. The 32-year-old has been fantastic in 2024 with an ERA of 2.22 over the first third of the season as evidence. The metrics suggest that much of this is good luck, but the results are tough to argue with. He’ll have a chance to prove the doubters wrong again next Tuesday against the Mets, assuming no changes to the rotation order.

The only run Williams allowed was a homer off the bat from Julio Rodriguez. Outside of that the 32-year-old was as good as he’s been all year — and that’s saying something for a hurler who now has a 2.29 ERA. He didn’t issue a walk and scattered five hits, but unfortunately the Nationals only provided a single run of support while he was in the game. Despite his solid results over the first two months, it’d be a mistake to trust him as a streamer against Atlanta next week.

Williams still hasn’t given up more than three runs in a game this season, though the quick hooks help there; he’s gotten a total of five outs beyond the fifth inning in his nine starts. Williams will eventually start giving up homers again. He topped the NL in allowing 15 in 55 innings in 2020 and 34 in 144 innings last season, yet he’s somehow gave up only one in 46 innings this year.

Williams went 37 2/3 innings over seven starts to open the season before finally coughing up a homer when White Sox slugger Eloy Jiménez took him deep into the second inning. The 32-year-old righty hasn’t generated enough strikeouts to make a significant impact for fantasy managers, but he’s been a nice back-end rotation stabilizer in deeper mixed leagues. He’ll bring a sparkling 1.94 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 32/13 K/BB ratio across 41 2/3 innings (eight starts) into a road matchup on Sunday against the Phillies at hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park.

It’ll be a straight doubleheader, with the first game beginning at 3:40 p.m. CDT. The teams will use tonight’s previously scheduled starters, Chris Flexen and Trevor Williams, in Game 1 and go with Tuesday’s scheduled starters, Erick Fedde and Mitchell Parker, in Game 2.

Williams got off to a strong start in this one, striking out eight of the first 15 batters he faced while allowing just one baserunner. It was a strong outing for Williams, whose eight strikeouts tied a career-high. He was pulled after 77 pitches, with short outings being par for the course for him this season. Williams lowered his ERA to 1.96 on the year and has allowed one earned run or less in five of his seven starts on the year. Williams will look to continue his hot start on Monday against the lowly White Sox.

Williams’ strong start to the season continued on Wednesday as he was able to keep a good Rangers lineup scoreless across five frames. He worked around plenty of traffic on the bases, giving up five hits and four walks while striking out three. The 32-year-old right-hander will take a 2.27 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, and a 22/12 K/BB ratio across 31 2/3 innings into a home start against the Orioles next week.

The crafty right-hander also issued a pair of walks on the night while recording only one strikeout. The lone run that scored against him came in the third inning as Vidal Bruján smacked a leadoff single, was awarded second on a disengagement violation and scored on an RBI single by Nick Fortes. Williams got six whiffs on 80 pitches on the evening, posting an underwhelming CSW of only 20 percent. The 32-year-old hurler will carry a stellar 2.70 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 19/8 K/BB ratio (26 2/3 innings) into a tough matchup against the Rangers in Arlington on Wednesday.

Two singles and a sacrifice fly by the Astros would bring a run in to score in the first inning. Williams would settle in nicely as he did not allow another hit or walk across five perfect innings before his day was done after six. Though, he was saddled with a no-decision as the Nationals couldn’t give him much run support. The 31-year-old right-hander has a 2.91 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and an 18/6 K/BB ratio across 21 2/3 innings. He’s in line for a start against the Marlins in Miami on Friday.