Williams will start season in triple-A
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai'i's Jerome Williams is definitely on the fast track to achieve his goal: to play in the major leagues.
The 39th overall pick in the 1999 draft out of Waipahu High, Williams will start the season at triple-A Fresno (Calif.), where he will join yet another Hawai'i resident in manager Lenn Sakata. Sakata, a 1971 Kalani High graduate, is a former major league infielder.
"It feels kind of weird because I'll probably be the youngest in the league," said Williams, a 20-year-old right-handed pitcher. "It's weird, but I feel I earned it, like I earned it last year. I proved myself at double-A last year, now I have to prove myself in triple-A."
The Grizzlies, who play in the Pacific Coast League, open the season tomorrow at Memphis. Williams said he is likely to be the No. 2 starter behind Jeff Urban.
Several publications have deemed the 6-foot-3, 180-pound Williams a future big league ace. For the second consecutive year, he was named the top prospect in the Giants organization by Baseball America newspaper.
At double-A Shreveport (La.) last year, as one of the few teenagers playing at that level, Williams posted a 9-7 record with a 3.95 earned run average. He made 23 starts with two complete games, including one shutout. He struck out 84 and walked 34 in 130 innings. He also pitched in the 2001 All-Star Futures Game, which featured top minor league prospects.
Upon signing out of high school, Williams pitched at single-A Salem-Keizer (Ore.) and made the jump to high-single-A San Jose (Calif.) in 2000. He concluded 2000 with a promotion to Shreveport, where he pitched in the playoffs.
"I hope to do like how I did in the second half last year," Williams said Monday, a day before he departed training camp in Arizona. "Maybe by midseason or September, I'll get a call-up."
The call-up he is referring to is with the San Francisco Giants.
Williams said he is looking forward to playing for Sakata, who has managed in the Giants system the past three seasons. Sakata got a promotion to triple-A after guiding three previous single-A teams to winning records. Last year, Sakata led single-A Bakersfield to the California League co-championship. (The playoffs were cut short because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.)
"It will be awesome just playing for him, especially him being from Hawai'i," Williams said. "Both of us want to accomplish the same thing: win a championship. He also can help me accomplish my goal to get up there (to the major leagues)."
Other players with Hawai'i ties opening the season at triple-A are former University of Hawai'i pitchers Mark Johnson at Indianapolis (Brewers) and Jay Spurgeon at Rochester (Orioles), former UH-Hilo and Kaua'i High pitcher Tyler Yates at Norfolk (Mets), and Big Island-born pitcher Brandon Villafuerte at Portland (Padres). Johnson signed a minor league contract with the Brewers just prior to training camp in February.
Only three players with ties to Hawai'i opened the season in the big leagues. Outfielder Benny Agbayani (Hawai'i Pacific/St. Louis) is with the Colorado Rockies, relief pitcher Mike Fetters (Iolani) is with the Pittsburgh Pirates and third baseman Chris Truby (Damien) is with the Montreal Expos. Truby was traded to the Expos from the Astros during spring training.
