No one, including two-time All-American Seth Beer, was having a better season than Chris Williams in 2017.
The Clemson catcher was leading the team in hitting, RBIs and home runs through the first 12 weeks of the season. Then it all came to a sudden stop.
In a game against Nevada last May, following a base hit, Williams dove back into the bag at first base to avoid being picked off. When he slid back into the bag, he extended his right arm which got jammed against the bag.
It was obvious the Garden Grove, Calif., native was in pain.
Williams missed the rest of the game and the series. And though he came back a few weeks later, he could not throw the baseball and was used as a designated hitter and pinch hitter as the Tigers tried to make a postseason run.
It was a tough pill for Williams to swallow. After playing so well and being considered for All-ACC and All-American honors, he suddenly was just a shell of his former self. His batting average dropped from over .300 to .253 after he went just 2-for-22 the last few weeks of the season.
“I had to do a little soul-searching right there when I physically could not do what I was doing before,” Williams said to The Clemson Insider. “I had to really push past it mentally. ‘What can I do now? My swing is going to be different.’ I worked with hitting coach Greg Starbuck in the cage. I tried to get myself game ready so I could be the best version of me.”
But Williams was not himself, and everyone knew it.
Williams draft stock went down as well due to the injury. Major League teams, who were once high on him, suddenly dropped off due to concerns with his shoulder. He was eventually picked in the 31st round (919 overall) by the Tampa Bay Rays, which ultimately led to his return to Clemson for his senior year.
On June 27, the 6-foot-1, 225-pound senior had surgery on his shoulder and spent the rest of the summer in Clemson where he rehabbed the shoulder and did arm care.
“I spent the summer trying to get stronger,” Williams said. “Trying to make sure that when I come back and I am able to throw again, I will be the best I can be.”
Williams is almost back to full strength as he is still trying to get his arm stronger. And though he will not start behind the plate for the Tigers this afternoon when they open the 2018 season against William & Mary, he will be in the starting lineup as he will man things at first base.
“My swing is back to normal,” he said. “My shoulder feels better. I’m just doing what I did last year and everything is kind of the same.”
That’s good news for Clemson and even more good news for Beer. When both are healthy, it gives the Tigers one of the best one-two-punches in college baseball.
“It is great. You love to have a guy like that,” Beer said.
Beer also likes the kind of mindset Williams brings to the dugout when he is in the lineup and is playing every day.
“He brings a certain kind of character that is relaxed and laid back that you need to have,” the junior said about his teammate. “But also, in those pressure situations, you can rely on him that he is going to be cool and collected and ready to go.
“That is something I have always found pretty cool about him. When the moment shines the brightest, that is when he shows up.”
And that is what Clemson needs.