Matthew Jarrad Williams (28 February 1987) is an Australian former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

who played for the Australian national baseball team in international competition. He also played in the Minnesota Twins organisation, who signed him as a non-drafted

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2004.

Career

Williams began the 2008 season with the Beloit Snappers of the

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

. Going 2–0 with seven saves and a 2.09

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA) and 42 strikeouts over 38.2 innings pitched earned him a

All-Star selection, and a promotion to the Twins' advanced-A affiliate in

Fort Myers Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...

. With the

Miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...

, he went 2–2 with a 3.35 ERA and 37 strikeouts in twenty appearances. He also started two games for the first time in his minor league career with the Miracle. In his starts, he was 1–0 with a 1.00 ERA—giving up one earned run over nine total innings. During his stint with the Miracle, Williams was one of two of the team's players on the ever-increasing list of

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

born baseball players, as he was born in Camden, Australia (the other being infielder/outfielder Daniel Berg).

Australian National Team

He played for the Australian national baseball team in the

2009 Baseball World Cup The 2009 Baseball World Cup (BWC) was the 38th international Men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, which titled it the Amateur World Series from the 1938 tournament through t ...

. In 2010, Williams reached the double-A level of the Twins organization, splitting the season between Fort Myers and the

New Britain Rock Cats The New Britain Rock Cats were a minor league baseball team that competed in the Eastern League. They were the Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox for 12 years, the Minnesota Twins for 20 years and the Colorado Rockies for one. They played ...

. After the 2010 season, Williams left the Twins organization to return to his native Australia. He played for the

Sydney Blue Sox The Sydney Blue Sox are a professional baseball team, and one of eight foundation teams in the re-formed Australian Baseball League (ABL). The team plays their home games at Blacktown International Sportspark (BISP), one of the two venues used ...

until 2012, then moved on to the

Adelaide Bite The Adelaide Giants are a professional baseball team that plays in the Australian Baseball League. They are one of the six foundation franchises of the league, in its first incarnation from 1989 to 1999. The team adopted the name Bite or Adelaid ...

, where he played from 2013 to 2017.

References

External links

1987 births Living people Adelaide Bite players Australian expatriate baseball players in the United States Baseball pitchers Beloit Snappers players Elizabethton Twins players Fort Myers Miracle players Gulf Coast Twins players New Britain Rock Cats players Sportsmen from New South Wales Sydney Blue Sox players 2013 World Baseball Classic players 2017 World Baseball Classic players St. Gregory's Cavaliers athletes {{Australia-baseball-bio-stub