Serving as one of Atlanta’s deep position player reserves, Williams also took the mound three times in 2024.
The de facto 26th man for the Atlanta Braves for much of the 2024 season, infielder/outfielder/pitcher (apparently) Luke Williams offered flexibility as a depth player for much of the campaign.
How acquired?
The Braves signed Williams as a free agent on June 5, 2023, after he was released by the Los Angeles Dodgers. They then re-signed him to a minor league deal in November 2023.
What were the expectations?
With the way the Atlanta Braves constructed their roster for the 2024 season, Williams was an oddly perfect fit for the 26th man on the active roster. Atlanta began the season with six full-time starters locked in to the everyday line-up, with only left field and catcher the only positions where a work-share was possible. Williams was expected to be depth, likely at Triple-A, that could fit the big league team as an emergency fill-in, pinch-runner and most likely, and player who might go weeks without making it into a game.
Position flexibility aside, though, Williams offers little — which is why he was the perfect fit for a team that really doesn’t want to get anything out of its non-regulars, by design. His career coming into 2024 consisted of 263 PAs with a 60 wRC+ and -0.2 fWAR; his defense has been marginally above average as a guy that can fill in everywhere but is badly stretched at shortstop. The expectation was that he’d be replacement level or maybe a little worse, but never in a way where he’d get any substantial playing time.
2024 results
Williams appeared in 37 games for the Braves but only picked up 52 plate appearances. Used as a pinch-runner more than a dozen times, he stole three bases and scored nine runs on the season. He ended up starting 14 contests, which in and of itself tells you just how sideways the 2024 season went for the Braves,at four different defensive positions, including shortstop, second base, third base and left field.
Williams also pitched in three games – including twice in three games in August against the Milwaukee Brewers, which also tells you a bit about how the 2024 season went for the Braves.
At the plate, Williams struggled in his limited appearances, slashing .196/.275/.261… but that’s basically par for the course, as that 54 wRC+ wasn’t really any different from what was a 60 mark coming into the year. On the mound, he pitched four innings and allowed only two runs — both in his last appearance against the Brewers. All in all, he finished with -0.2 fWAR, his second consecutive season falling below the literal threshold of replacement level.
At Triple-A, Williams hit better with a .282/.344/.495 line and nine home runs in 55 games and 241 plate appearances for the Gwinnett Stripers. Still, he’s been around the majors enough to know that that 115 wRC+ in the minors won’t translate.
What went right?
For Williams, he spent a significant amount of time on the big league roster, despite his limited number of on-field appearances. Playing most of the season at age 27, Williams saw action in his fourth consecutive season at the big league level.
Although his production was limited, the positional flexibility he gave Atlanta at the end of the bench was beneficial in their nightmarish season where you couldn’t help but wonder who’d go down for the count next.
Williams did manage to have one nice full game, in a 5-1 win over the Twins. He doubled in the third and was stranded, but his double in the seventh pushed the Braves’ lead from two to four runs.
Sure, he got some help from poor fielding, but he at least hit the ball okay, which has been a problem for him. (He had one barrel and two instances of “solid contact” in 2024, neither of which were this double.)
What went wrong?
Although Williams has never had an extensive run of playing time in his MLB career — the most plate appearances he has had in a single season was 136 across two organizations in 2022 — this past season saw him see have a minimal role at the major league level. Offensively, he’s provided little value, and 2024 didn’t help matters at all. In four seasons, the highest single-season xwOBA he’s posted is .266, so he’s basically pitcher-level offensively, which isn’t great considering that pitchers, well, you know… generally don’t hit in MLB anymore.
Unfortunately for Williams, the organization opted to send him to Triple-A in mid-September despite having significant depth issues in the infield. When the going got tough, even the Braves couldn’t abide someone with his limited upside on the bench, apparently.
One thing that really went wrong, though it wasn’t really his fault, was a sequence on September 1. In a tie game, Gio Urshela led off the eighth with a single and gave way to Williams, who pinch-ran as the go-ahead run. The Braves then went down in order… only to load the bases against Matt Strahm in the ninth. Orlando Arcia made an out on three pitches, bringing up… Williams, in the highest-leverage situation of his career. The Braves didn’t swap anyone else in for him, and he hit a routine fly to center on the third straight fastball he got in pretty much the same location (he had fouled off the two before).
2025 outlook
Williams is apparently the quintessential Quad-A player. His productivity at Triple-A, not to mention his team control, will keep him around as a depth option for the Braves. He could see time with Atlanta in 2025, depending on how the team re-considers (or doesn’t) its approach to the bench. But, he could just as easily be cut loose from the 40-man roster and find an opportunity elsewhere. Either way, he’s defensibly flexible enough to not necessarily be an awful major leaguer if needed, but offers so little with the bat that he’s probably replacement level at best.