May 8, 2017 5 min read

Hunter Williams is no different than any other Frontier League player. He wants to play baseball someplace else – for a major league affiliate – and has visions of making it to the big leagues one day.

The one difference between Williams, a left-handed pitcher from Moseley, Va., and his Wild Things teammates is this: Williams knows, almost to the day, when his stay in Washington will end.

The 21-year-old Williams is unique in that he is eligible for Major League Baseball’s First-Year Player Draft that will be held next month. And he’s likely to be selected June 13, during the second day of the three-day draft.

How Williams found his way to the Frontier League and the Wild Things’ roster, and back to a city in which he had a championship baseball experience, makes him different from any other player who has occupied the home team’s clubhouse at Wild Things Park.

Williams was a 32nd-round draft pick of the San Francisco Giants out of Cosby High School in Midlothian, Va., in 2014 but did not sign, instead opting to attend the University of North Carolina. Over the last two years, Williams had seven wins and pitched in 37 games, splitting time between the Tar Heels’ bullpen and starting rotation.

“Because I was starting sometimes and also pitching out of the bullpen – we had only two left-handers in the bullpen last year, me and a freshman – the scouts didn’t know when I was pitching,” Williams said. “It wasn’t like they knew when to go see me pitch.”

Williams pitched well enough that he was slated to be North Carolina’s No. 2 starting pitcher this spring, only because No. 1 starter JB Bukauskas is expected to be a top-10 pick in the draft. Williams’ draft stock shot up last summer when, while playing for the Harwich Mariners in the prestigious Cape Cod League, he posted a sterling 1.27 ERA in seven starts. He also hit 97 mph on the radar gun with his fastball.

Left-handed pitchers who can throw that hard don’t go unnoticed by scouts.

“When I played on the Cape, I made it a goal to minimize walks and be able to have command on any count,” Williams said. “I focused on hitting spots and I did. I had only 12 walks and my ERA was the second-best in the entire league.”

In its preseason ratings, Baseball America magazine ranked Williams as the No. 54 draft-eligible college player for 2017.

Then, after returning to Chapel Hill, N.C., and playing fall baseball, Williams received the bad news. His grade-point-average had dropped to .004 below what is required to play. Williams was suddenly ineligible for the Tar Heels in 2017.

“I didn’t know what to do,” Williams said. “I knew I had to make the best of the situation. I checked into transferring to an NAIA school, but found out I wouldn’t be eligible until the middle of May.”

His baseball career was suddenly on hold.

“I talked to an adviser and he told me to throw some bullpen sessions back home,” Williams explained. “I threw at Randolph-Macon College and lots of scouts would show up to watch.”

But there were no games to play, no experienced hitters to get out and no tangible way for the scouts to evaluate Williams’ development.

“So my adviser called to set something up in Washington, because it was close to home,” Williams said.

The advisor called the Wild Things and asked if Williams could pitch for them, but said the lefty likely will be gone after the draft. The Wild Things didn’t mind that arrangement. After all, the Frontier League’s mission is to get players into affiliated ball.

“The advisor said he arranged for me to pitch for Washington and I was thinking the West Coast,” Williams recalled. “He said, ‘No, Pennsylvania.'”

Washington, Pennsylvania?

“I couldn’t believe it. I told him that I’ve been there,” Williams said.

That’s because Williams played in Washington for the Chesterfield County, Va., team that won the 2010 Pony League World Series championship at Lew Hays Pony Field.

“I won the Home Run Derby at the Pony World Series,” Williams said proudly. “I remember a player from (Bayamon) Puerto Rico hitting something like 22 home runs in the first round. In the finals, I hit about six home runs but the other guy was worn out from hitting so many home runs in the first round that I was able to win.

“We beat (West Tokyo) Japan in the championship game but I pitched the semifinal game against (Corona), California. I remember meeting people from all over the world, being at the McDonald’s on Chestnut Street and having to order for the Japanese players because they didn’t speak English. … It has helped that I’m in a place I’m comfortable and somewhat familiar with.”

Williams’ story is similar to that of Washington Nationals pitcher Tanner Roark, who signed with the Frontier League’s Southern Illinois Miners after being ineligible his senior season in college at Illinois. Roark is in his fifth major-league season.

Williams hopes his career turns out as well as Roark’s. Williams’ outings are sure to attract many scouts. Last week, Baseball America’s updated draft rankings had Williams rated No. 187 among all draft-eligible players. A few good outings for Washington could improve his stock.

Whatever the results are, Wild Things manager Gregg Langbehn said he knows he won’t have Williams on the roster for more than a month.

“He has a really good arm and secondary pitches,” Langbehn said. “We’ll monitor him closer than the other starters. There’s no doubt he has the ability.”