photo: AP

For perhaps the first time in our projection series, here's a guy whose possibilities might not be known from his previous performance.

His stat lines range from good (2003, 7-5, 3.30 in 21 starts) to mediocre (2004 and 2005, fairly similar, 22 appearances each season, 4.24 in '04, 4.26 in '05, though 3.91 as a Cub).

He turned 24 in December (he's six months younger than Carlos Zambrano, to give you some perspective). He tore through the Arizona Fall League in 2002, which is why he was in the Giants' rotation the next year at 21. Here's a photo of him playing for the Scottsdale Scorpions in a 2002 AFL game (incidentally, the baserunner is Adam Morrissey, another ex-Cub farmhand):

photo: thomas o'neil, baseballarizona.com

Personal, injury and weight problems set him back in 2004 and 2005; all of those are supposedly behind him.

Williams could either be a bust, or he could be the Next Big Thing.

What say you?

Categories: G (again, assume he's a rotation starter, so G=GS), IP, H, HR, BB, SO, W-L, ERA, WHIP

UPDATE [2006-2-23 8:14:16 by Al]: Community projection for Williams: G-32; GS-27; IP-169; H-144; HR-23; BB-64; SO-115; W-10; L-10; ERA.-3.99; WHIP-1.13