https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/05/10/trevor-williams-nationals-pitcher/

Golden article on changes Williams made to his pitch mix. A lot about recognizing what wasn't working last year and emphasizing what works better this year. He's reduced his reliance on his fastball to his lowest usage every (36.4%), and he's using the sweeper a lot more (17.9% after single digit usage last year). He's also mostly shelved the curve, his least effective pitch. Now the mix still has the fastball as most used, but throwing 4 other pitches off speed, tunneling his sweeper and slider, and working low has led to a more effective fastball and better results.

As for his pitch mix, Williams left his fastball up in the zone and over the plate too often. But he was pleased with what he saw from his secondary pitches. His change-up was elite at times, but in pursuit of more consistency, he tweaked his grip. His sinker worked well in the bottom part of the zone and on the corners. And then he looked at his breaking ball usage.

Williams primarily used his slider last season, with his curveball as a get-me-over pitch he would throw for strikes. But he realized that he underutilized his sweeper, a pitch he added in 2021. He only threw the sweeper 73 times (2.8%), yet it had the highest whiff percentage of any of his pitches. Now, he’s throwing it 17.9 percent of the time while rarely using his curveball.

Catcher Riley Adams said Williams’s curveball stayed up in the zone last year, allowing hitters to recognize it early. His sweeper and slider play better off each at the bottom of the zone — the sweeper is a bit slower than the slider but they’re hard to differentiate from each other. All four of his secondary pitches are working in harmony to make his fastball look better.

The comments refer to a recent MLBTR article on his improvement that goes over much the same ground, then discusses the potential for extending him or dealing him.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/05/the-hot-start-of-trevor-williams-raises-interesting-questions.html

More on the pitching mix change:

The results have been excellent so far, with opponents hitting just .167 against the sweeper and whiffing at a huge 41.2% rate. Even the Pitching Ninja is taking notice. By throwing more sweepers, he’s been able to threw fewer four-seamers and curveballs. As mentioned, the four-seamer is still is primary pitch, but he’s dropped the usage from 43.2% to 36.4%, while his curveball has gone from 6.9% down to just 0.5% this year. Of the 34 home runs he allowed last year, 21 of them were four-seamers and three more were curveballs, leading to respective slugging percentages of .563 and .629. Throwing them less was surely wise and has been paying off

Changing up the mix seems to be throwing hitters off. Williams had a 10.2% barrel rate last year that is down to just 4% here in 2024. Last year’s average launch angle of 15.9 degrees is down to 11.5, which aligns with his increased ground ball rate and his refusal to let the ball leave the park. His results on his changeup and sinker have also been better than last year, perhaps due to the sweeper giving hitters something else to think about.

The Nats will need roster space when Gray is ready. It'll mean cutting Rainey or Weems, or it will mean dealing a pitcher. This exercise will be repeated when Cavalli is ready.

The ideal of course, though it isn't ever going to happen, is Soto.

2025 opening day lineup:

1. Abrams - SS
2. Thomas - RF
3. Soto - DH
4. Wood - LF
5. Ruiz - C
6. Garcia - 2B
7. Crews - CF
8. House - 3B
9. Morales - 1B

Rotation: Cavalli, Gore, Gray, Irvin, Parker

#3 ,7,8,9 and probably #2 ain't happening grasshopper.

lol.  Winker does not need to be starting?   You are insane

We will see if his slump continues

tbh, I am kind of surprised how poorly he has been hitting lefties. I've not seen that in any article. .729 OPS that's not hollow (.241 ISO ), fine, but the low .200s AVG and .281 OBP should have folks a bit concerned. It puts me strongly in the camp of letting him get 100-150 more PAs in AAA so he has about 30- 45 more PAs against lefties.

My take on this is what lefty masher is Wood taking ABs away from at the big league level?  However much worse he is against the occasional lefty than Robles or whoever your substitute bat against a lefty is, he’s likely to way more than make up for that against righties as an upgrade over some of the deadwood like Rosario, Meneses, Gallo, Robles, etc.

You can treat him like the Rangers with their star young rookie LH OF Evan Carter.  He was even worse against lefties in the minors.  They give him the occasional start against lefties, and he still is struggling, and other times they sit him then pinch hit him once a righty reliever comes in.

This feels more 2010 in my book, where 50 games in the Nationals were playing .500 ball and shocking everyone.

There still has to be a Jayson Werth signing that gives fans some belief the ownership wants to win and this isn't a mirage.

The ideal of course, though it isn't ever going to happen, is Soto.

2025 opening day lineup:

1. Abrams - SS
2. Thomas - RF
3. Soto - DH
4. Wood - LF
5. Ruiz - C
6. Garcia - 2B
7. Crews - CF
8. House - 3B
9. Morales - 1B

Rotation: Cavalli, Gore, Gray, Irvin, Parker