DENVER – Not many starting pitchers would identify Coors Field in Colorado’s mile-high thin air as the perfect place to start in a major league debut. On Tuesday, Reds’ Brandon Williamson was only the 10th pitcher to make his debut in the spacious field where offenses often fester.
“I tried not to think about it,” Williamson said. “You go in there and you think, man, that’s a buzz box.” Little negative thinking. But you don’t care where you debuted. You just want to get up here.”
Williamson got off to a great start with a no-decision in a 3-1 win over the Rockies. The left fielder, who was rated a No. 10 prospect in Cincinnati by MLB Pipeline and was called up from Triple-A Louisville, gave up two hits over 5 2/3 innings.
“It can be more difficult on this field, it can’t be much better. Brandon has been fantastic,” said Reds coach David Bell.
Williamson opened with Charlie Blackmon’s first single but erased it when Jorickson Provar grounded off a double.
“I just thought there, Brandon just settled down,” Bell said. “He was able to roll after that.”
The second strike came after Williamson retired 14 batters in a row. It was a solo homer to right field by Ezequiel Tovar on a 2-1 fastball that drifted over the plate to make it 1-0 in the game. It was because of his only earned run that he walked two and struck out six.
Williamson threw a solid 72 batters (47 strikeouts)—including 56 over the first five innings—to help the worn-out Bulls.
“I looked up in the fifth inning and said, ‘Whoa, 56 pitches,'” Williamson joked. Let’s go nine.”
With the exception of spring training, catcher Curt Casale had never worked with Williamson before and kept his message simple.
“I just wanted to say how great it was that he finally did it and enjoyed every moment of it. We sprinkled in a little exploration whenever we could,” Casale said. “I always do my homework, so I tried to help him out as best I could, but 5 2/3, one run into Coors Field, yeah, he scored me.”
Williamson featured five different finishes but leaned more on his chopper, a move he brought back to his kit just a few weeks earlier.
“I was having a hard time getting a good grip, and my cut is the pitch when I don’t necessarily feel the ball well, I can still throw it effectively,” he said.
Against Williamson, former Red Chase Anderson pitched five scoreless innings for Colorado. After he left, Nick Senzel hit a casual first pitch off of reliever Peter Lambert in the sixth inning for a two-run two-run homer, which pulled Williamson off the hook.
“[Williamson] Unreal threw. “I wanted to have it twice,” Snezel said.
Williamson, 25, hasn’t posted big numbers for the Minors since he was acquired along with Jake Fraley and Justin Dunn in the March 2022 deal that sent Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez to the Mariners.
In 27 games at Double-A Chattanooga and Louisville last season, Williamson was 6-7 with a 4.11 ERA and overcame a sore shoulder while his walk rate rose and his strike rate waned.
The shoulder soreness is gone, but the overall numbers in 2023 were no better as Williamson was 2-4 with a 6.62 ERA in eight starts for Louisville. But things have started to click lately, starting with a bullpen session late last month.
“I was like, ‘Why would I do anything at less than a 100% level now?'” I feel great. why not? “I just started throwing the ball as hard as I could,” Williamson said. “Everything honed. I was like, ‘Let’s use this in a game,’ and I started rolling.”
In the subsequent start at Iowa on April 29, Williamson was hit for eight runs in the third of the inning.
“The worst start of my life,” Williamson said. “I felt amazing. I thought I was going to take control.”
In the two starts after that, Williamson rebounded and struck out a combined 11 batters over 11 2/3 innings pitched while allowing four earned runs. His self-confidence returned.
“I think it was more because my health was where I wanted it to be. I could attack and let it all go, and never have to question anything,” he said. “Once I started tearing up every floor I throw up, that kind of builds and builds and builds. It took a couple of weeks to snowball and downhill.”
Shortly before Colorado faced off with about 30 friends and family on the court, Williamson exchanged text messages with best friend and injured Reds rookie Nick Ludulu.
“It was like, ‘Just leave it all there,'” Williamson said. “That’s all I’ve been thinking about all night.”
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