Jett Williams

Week: 6 G, 26 AB, .385/.448/.769, 10 H, 4 2B, 0 3B, 2 HR, 3 BB, 8 K, 2/2 SB (Double-A)

2025 Season: 78 G, 281 AB, .288/.396/.495, 81 H, 24 2B, 5 3B, 8 HR, 49 BB, 74 K, 26/31 SB, .365 BABIP (Double-A)

Obviously, the sample size is just a single series, but the July opener against Hartford Yard Goats is the first time this season where Jett Williams has truly struggled. He began the season on fire in April, hitting .290/.355/.507 in 18 games with 5 doubles, 2 triples, 2 home runs, and 5 stolen bases in 6 attempts. He cooled off a little in May but was still solid, hitting .272/.398/.432 in 25 games with 7 doubles, 2 home runs, and 11 stolen bases in 13 attempts. Things picked back up in June, as Jett hit .307/.445/.534 in 24 games with 8 doubles, 3 triples, 2 home runs, and 8 stolen bases in 10 attempts. Coming into this past week against the Altoona Curve, Jett was 2-20 with no extra base hits and just 2 walks. Hopefully, his success against Altoona gives him the spark needed to continue dominating on the field.

Despite his overall success, Williams is having a somewhat unheralded season. I didn’t even realize this until I looked, but among qualified Eastern League hitters, Jett is 5th in batting average, tied for 2nd in slugging percentage, 2nd in OPS, 6th in hits, tied for 1st in doubles, tied for 2nd in triples, tied for 9th in home runs, 4th in stolen bases, and 4th in walks.

Noah Hall

Week: 1 G (1 GS), 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (High-A)

2025 Season: 17 G (13 GS), 78.1 IP, 56 H, 25 R, 21 ER (2.41 ERA), 43 BB, 82 K, .270 BABIP (High-A)

We had a dearth of excellent pitching performances this week. Brandon Sproat continued his string of success, throwing seven scoreless innings to make it three starts in a row where the right-hander looked strong. Nolan McLean struck out ten in back-to-back starts, bringing his total with Syracuse to 65 in 60.2 innings. R.J. Gordon had a solid start to the year with Brooklyn but really turned heads in his Double-A debut, throwing seven innings of one-run ball with eight punchouts. Brooklyn right-hander Noah Hall barely edged out that group with a strong performance on Saturday night against the Wilmington Blue Rocks, throwing seven scoreless innings of his own, scattering two hits and a walk while striking out four.

After graduating from high school undrafted in 2019, the right-hander attended Appalachian State University, where he posted a 1.80 ERA in 20.0 innings in his freshman year, allowing 13 hits, walking 10, and striking out 21, and then posted a 3.99 ERA in 49.2 innings in his sophomore year, allowing 39 hits, walking 23, and striking out 52.

He did not return to Appalachian State for his third year of college, his junior season, as the North Carolinian instead defected to the University of South Carolina. He struggled a bit, facing SEC hitters for the first time while also adjusting to being utilized as a starting pitcher, posting a 4.34 ERA in 76.2 innings, allowing 75 hits, walking 31, and striking out 78. His performance got him noticed, and the Milwaukee Brewers drafted him in the 20th round of the 2022 MLB Draft, the fifth last player selected in the draft. Hall did not sign with the Brewers, opting to return to the Gamecocks for a final collegiate season, his senior year.

Hall got off to a strong start to the 2023 season, winning SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week and SEC Pitcher of the Week Awards in February and March, but a back injury caused his season to come to a sudden halt in late March. All in all, the right-hander posted a 3.29 ERA in 41.0 innings over 7 starts with 38 hits allowed, 9 walks, and 43 strikeouts. He was drafted by the Mets in the 7th round of the 2023 MLB Draft and ended up signing for a $176,250 signing bonus, almost below $60,000 below the MLB-assigned slot value for the 216th overall selection, $235,000.

Hall ended up not playing professionally for the entire year because of his back injury. When he returned to the mound in 2024, he made a handful of starts with the Brooklyn Cyclones but was placed on the 7-Day Injured List with an undisclosed injury at the end of April and then transferred to the 60-Day Injured List. He made a rehab start in St. Lucie at the end of the season but missed the majority of the season, throwing just 13.0 innings to mixed results, allowing 14 earned runs on 20 hits and 10 walks, with 12 strikeouts. He was assigned to the Arizona Fall League following the conclusion of the season and pitched to poor results as well, allowing 4 earned runs in 6.1 innings, with 8 hits allowed, 7 walks, and 3 strikeouts. Hall began the 2025 season with the Brooklyn Cyclones and has had a fairly respectable showing for himself thus far. Pitching in Coney Island has certainly helped, but Hall is third in ERA among qualified pitchers in the South Atlantic League behind Hudson Valley’s Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz (2.26 ERA) and Kyle Carr (2.37) and is sixth in strikeouts, behind Rodriguez-Cruz (99), Bowling Green’s T.J. Nichols (97), Wilmington’s Alex Clemmey (88), Hudson Valley’s Josh Grosz (88), Rome’s Herick Hernandez (85), and Wilmington’s Jackson Kent (84).

The 6’0”, 190-pound right-hander throws from a high-three-quarters arm slot with a slingy delivery. While pitching from the wind-up, the right-hander takes a slight rocker step that occasionally is so extreme that it is more of a toe tap than a foot plant. Be it his balance during his initial pitching movements or his whippy arm motion, but Hall has long had problems with finding the strike zone; including this most recent start, the right-hander has just 2 starts in all of 2025 where he walked one of fewer batters. While the excess of free passes hasn’t come back to bite him this season, more often than not, the additional pitches have limited his workload but elevating his pitch count per start.

His fastball, a two-seam fastball, sits in the low-to-mid-90s with armside life, topping out as high as 96 MPH. His best pitch, his changeup, plays off of his fastball. The pitch is a weapon against left-handers and right-handers alike, sitting in the low-80s with late arm-side dive and submarine sink. Rounding out his arsenal is a developing gyro slider that is still developing. At times, it flashes average but needs to be tightened up to give it some bite and make it a more effective pitch.

Players of the Week 2025

Week One/Two (March 28-April 6): Joey Meneses/Zach Thornton

Week Three (April 8-April 13): A.J. Ewing/Zach Thornton

Week Four (April 15-April 20): A.J. Ewing/Zach Thornton

Week Five (April 22-April 27): Jon Singleton/Jonah Tong

Week Six (April 29-May 5): Jacob Reimer: Felipe De La Cruz

Week Seven (May 6-May 11): Ryan Clifford/Jonah Tong

Week Eight (May 13-May 18): A.J. Ewing/Jonah Tong

Week Nine (May 20-May 25): Jesus Baez/Zach Thornton

Week Ten (May 27-June 1): Colin Houck/Wellington Aracena

Week Eleven (June 3-June 8): D’Andre Smith/Jonah Tong

Week Twelve (June 10-June 15): Jett Williams/Brendan Girton

Week Thirteen (June 17-June 22): Chris Suero/ Wellington Aracena

Week Fourteen (June 24-June 29): Elian Peña/Wellington Aracena & Brandon Sproat

Week Fifteen (July 1-July 6): Jacob Reimer/Jack Wenninger