27. William Woods
Personal Rank: 33
It has been a rough two years for William Woods. Drafted in the 23rd round in 2018 out of Dyersburg State Community College, there was thoughts that the Braves may have gotten a steal in the later rounds.
In 2019, at the low-A level, Woods appeared in 20 games, started 7 pitching 51 innings pitching to a 3.35 ERA, 4.06 FIP, & 4.16 xFIP with a 10.24 K/9, and a 26.6% strikeout rate. The one concern being his control, 5.12 BB/9 & 13.3% walk rate, as it the case with several young pitchers.
Even with some of the warts, Woods displayed some potential that saw him climbing into the top 30 lists for the Braves organization.
Then the 2020 pandemic season happened, and Woods lost a professional season. Coming off a promising season, this was seen as a detriment to Woods overall development.
Then in 2021, he gets injured and only tosses 10.2 innings. In 9.2 innings at high-A Rome, Woods sported a 4.66 ERA, 7.90 FIP, 5.39 xFIP across 4 games. He struggled to miss bats, striking out 16.7% of batters.
He did participate in the Arizona Fall League and did perform better. He pitched in 6 games, starting 5, with a 4.29 ERA. He struck out 22.2% of batters, but still walked too many batters (10.9%).
However, he still has a hype surrounding him from some scouts.
One of the biggest risers in the Braves system?
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) February 4, 2021
RHP William Woods.
Find out why + see his new scouting report in our updated Braves Top 30: https://t.co/J2svfGPkM2
(🎥 @williamwoods22)
https://t.co/F6R9CXoe29
Woods throws hard. He can top out in the upper 90s and has some solid secondaries to play off the hard fastball. The issue is he cannot always control the pitches. He also must figure out how to miss more bats.
Personally, I do not see Woods remaining as a starter for much longer in his major league career, and that caps his prospect rankings for me. Relievers just do not get ranked as high as other positions.
As long as he is listed as a starter, there will always be a sense of “what if” surrounding the big fastball. It seems that his projection as a starter would be backend at best.
Yet as a reliever, his big fastball paired with an effective slider could really play up in one to two inning roles. Woods may never reach “elite” prospect status, but he is a guy I would keep an eye on if (when) he finally transitions to the bullpen.