The Rays made a surprising move this afternoon, calling up top prospect Justin Williams from the Durham Bulls and optioning the recently acquired Hoby Milner to AAA.
We've recalled OF Justin Williams and optioned LH Hoby Milner to Triple-A @DurhamBulls. pic.twitter.com/GDE504c8D8
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) July 21, 2018
Regarding Milner and his intriguing lefty delivery — last night’s dinger to Derek Dietrich notwithstanding — he will be back at some point. But the obvious big deal about this transaction is Justin Williams.
Orginally drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks with the 52nd pick of the 2013 draft, the Rays landed JWil in the Jeremy Hellickson trade in 2014. Williams has long been an interesting prospect, consistently ranking in both orgs top 20, but there was often a question of whether he would hit the ball in the air enough to let his obvious talent play at the top levels. Over the last season and a half, the lefty hitting outfielder seems to have made some progress in this area.
We will have more details on Williams from our more knowledgeable prospect writers shortly. In the meantime, here is a nice piece from JT to tide you over.
We told you the fun of this second half was going to be seeing the kids play. But honestly, we didn’t really expect this one so soon. Good luck, JWil!
CONGRATS to Justin Williams, who has been called up to @RaysBaseball for the first time! #BULLieve pic.twitter.com/0lnqfShbmy
— Durham Bulls (@DurhamBulls) July 21, 2018