A huge home run in your first game as a big leaguer — that must have felt amazing, right?
“I don’t even know,” said Williams through a smile that will not vanish any time soon. “I just freaked out. I blacked out. … I hit it, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve got to run.’
“I started running and I was just, ‘Go out, go out, go out.’ Then it went out, and I lost it.”
He wasn’t the only one. While Williams was galloping around the bases following his dinger to center field, his family and friends — about 20 in total, all of whom flew across the country from his hometown of San Diego — were going wild in the stands.
“It’s absolutely everything,” Williams said about having his memorable MLB introduction in front of his family. “It’s everything I’ve worked [for], dreamed of. It’s why I do it. … It’s just a culmination tonight. It’s so cool, and I couldn’t have done it without them.”
The Rays needed a jolt in the worst way when Williams stepped into the batter’s box in the seventh. Not only were they riding a four-game losing streak, but they had just seen their 7-1 lead shrink to 7-6 after St. Louis’ Nathan Church and Willson Contreras each bashed two-run homers in the top of the frame.
Enter Tampa Bay’s 22-year-old shortstop of the future. He admitted to being nervous before the game, and those butterflies were still fluttering as he came to the plate for his fourth and final plate appearance of the evening.
Williams had hit five homers in his last 10 games at Triple-A Durham before he was called up on Thursday, and already had singled in the third for his first big league hit. And Rays first baseman Yandy Díaz had told the youngster before his first at-bat that he was going to go yard in this game.
That proved to be prophetic when Williams smashed a four-seamer from Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez a Statcast-projected 410 feet.
“Yandy said I was going to [hit a home run], and now I’ve got to do something for him,” Williams said with a laugh.
The 2021 first-round Draft pick ended his debut with two hits and three RBIs after also driving in a run on an infield single in the third inning. He is the ninth player in Rays history to homer in his first MLB game and just the fourth to do so while picking up multiple hits. Williams also displayed the skills that made him a Minor League Gold Glove winner, handling each of his chances at short with relative ease and racking up seven assists.
“It’s probably the best debut that I’ve been a part of,” second baseman Brandon Lowe said of his double-play partner on this night.
“I know our clubhouse is screaming and high-fiving for him right now,” manager Kevin Cash added.
Junior Caminero, the Rays’ other uber-talented 22-year-old infielder, put the finishing touch on the game with a solo blast in the eighth for his 36th homer of the season.
“Oh, my gosh, did you see how far he hit that ball?” Williams said rhetorically.
Caminero’s crush job flew 426 feet to center, very close to where Williams’ tater landed. It was also a clear sign of the tantalizing amount of talent that the Rays could have on the left side of their infield for years to come.
“It was a dream come true for both of us,” Caminero said via team interpreter Eddie Rodriguez. “We were two kids that dreamed of [playing together in the Majors], and everything came to a realization today.”
But today was ultimately about Williams. Two hits, two runs, three RBIs, a game-changing home run and solid defense, all while your family cheers you on during your first Major League game — how do you sum that up? The man of the hour couldn’t quite find the words in the aftermath of his special performance.
“I’m pretty speechless right now,” Williams said. “I’m just trying to soak it all in and have as much fun as I can.”
