Williams is finally getting it right at Lehigh Valley
ALLENTOWN - As players attempt to reach the major leagues, confidence can fluctuate on a daily basis with performance. For Nick Williams, one of the most highly regarded outfielders in the Phillies' system, confidence has never been an issue.
ALLENTOWN - As players attempt to reach the major leagues, confidence can fluctuate on a daily basis with performance. For Nick Williams, one of the most highly regarded outfielders in the Phillies' system, confidence has never been an issue.
Overconfidence is something he admittedly has struggled with.
"I've always been extremely confident, and at times I am overconfident and I have to slow down," Williams said.
Williams, who will turn 23 in September, was acquired from Texas last year in the Cole Hamels trade.
He hit .320 with four home runs and 10 RBIs with an .876 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in 100 plate appearances last season for double-A Reading after the trade. Williams began last season at double-A Frisco for the Rangers.
The 6-foot-3, 195-pound Williams has shown his versatility by playing all three outfield positions.
Williams got off to a slow start this year, hitting .167 in his first nine games, but he has worked his way back to respectability. He entered the weekend hitting .276 with four home runs and 20 RBIs, with a .739 OPS.
Knowing how close he is to the big leagues, he said, he tried to do too much early in the season.
"You want to make it [to Philadelphia] as soon as possible, and I was just doing things I couldn't control, and I had to slow down," he said.
As if his confidence needed any more boosting, Williams put on a show during his first game at Citizens Bank Park, an exhibition against the Phillies on April 2.
Playing on a team consisting of the organization's top prospects, Williams went 2 for 2 with a double, home run, and three RBIs in a game the prospects lost, 6-5.
"It felt great to play against future teammates and play in the future stadium," Williams said. "There was no better feeling than playing in front of the home fans."
And there was no worse feeling than getting off to such a slow start.
Veteran Lehigh Valley manager Dave Brundage wasn't surprised that Williams struggled early. Brundage said a player always has to make adjustments when he moves up a minor-league level.
"With him pressing a little early on and being a young man who hadn't been to this level, he struggled a little bit and faced some adversity. But he has handled it well since," Brundage said.
One of the things that Brundage would like to see out of Williams, and any young player, is more consistency.
"He has a lot to learn and is not a finished product," Brundage said. "Everybody can see the talent level and bat speed, and he has made great defensive plays, and now it is keeping him focused."
Williams, who bats and throws lefthanded, was a second-round pick out of Galveston Ball High in Texas in 2012.
Being from Texas, he said, he doesn't care for the early-season cold weather in the Northeast.
"The weather here early in the season was tough, not like it is in Texas, but you have to be able to go through the process and grind," he said.
He has had ups and downs this season but is in a good groove now.
Williams took a five-game hitting streak into the weekend, going 8 for 18 (.444) with a home run, three RBIs, and six runs scored.
He also said that having his eyes on Philadelphia early in the season, instead of on the task at hand, hurt him at the start with the IronPigs.
"At the beginning it was very difficult, and it is one reason why I started out really slow for the first month and couple of weeks," he said. "I don't want to say I am catching up, but I have been feeling good, hitting the ball hard."
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