Luke Williams, Team USA punch ticket to Summer Olympics
Phillies prospect Luke Williams left Triple-A Lehigh Valley for a week to join Team USA as they played four games to qualify for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Williams batted leadoff and played left field for Team USA and was a key member of the teams success. Team USA won all four games punching their ticket to Tokyo this summer. Here’s how good Williams was for Team USA.
Monday: Against Nicaragua, Williams had three hits and reached based five times. Team USA won 7-1.
Tuesday: Williams hit a two-run triple and Team USA beat the Dominican Republic 8-6.
Wednesday: In a 10-1 win over Canada, Williams doubled and homered while scoring two runs.
Saturday: Williams had a hit and scored a run in Team USA’s 4-2 win over Venezuela.
Luke Williams was 8-for-16 with a double, a triple, a home run, six runs scored and six RBIs over the four game qualifier for Team USA. The Phillies third round draft pick in the 2015 draft has been off to a hot start in Lehigh Valley this season. The 24 year old Williams is slashing .352/.439/.465 with a .904 OPS. He has 25 hits, four doubles, and two triples with 8 RBI in 71 at-bats for the IronPigs.
Alec Bohm is struggling, but he’s not someone the Phillies are willing to give up on yet at third base, so you have to love seeing Williams playing left field for Team USA (looking at you, Andrew McCutchen). For the Phillies who can’t get anything consistent from their offense, Williams could be a candidate to fast-track his way to the major league level if he continues to play well.
The Phillies just announced that Nick Maton and Scott Kingery will both be rejoining Triple-A Lehigh Valley, opening up a roster spot. It will be interesting to see what the Phillies decide to do here. I’m not sure that Luke Williams will be the next man up, but it’s great to watch a Phillies’ prospect play well.
[…] walks from Jean Segura, two hits and two runs from Alec Bohm and a bunt base hit and a run from Luke Williams in his major league debut. The offense was there but the Phillies still managed to hit 2-for-11 […]
[…] was very busy over the past week. It started with Team USA and four qualifying games to help America punch their ticket to Tokyo this summer. He went 8-for-16 with a double, a triple, a home run, six runs scored and six RBIs over the four […]
[…] won against the Braves yesterday afternoon in walk-off fashion yet again. After Luke Williams (Captain America) walked it off for the Phillies with a two-out, two-run home run on Wednesday night, Jean Segura […]