CHICAGO — A directive to stop pitching left Trevor Williams wondering what's next.
He had just completed his third professional season as a Marlins minor leaguer in 2015 and was pitching in the Arizona Fall League. The then-23-year-old was drafted in the second round two years earlier, yet there was little communication from above, other than he was told to not throw and await further instruction. The Marlins were in the middle of a regime change, having hired Jim Benedict and Marc DelPiano from the Pirates.
Clarity finally came in the form of a phone call on Oct. 24, when he was told he'd been traded to the Pirates for a minor-league pitcher.
"They didn’t tell me a specific name or anything. My thought process was, 'Who did I piss off?'" Williams recalled for DKPittsburghSports.com.
It wasn't until two weeks later that he found out the trade was consummated as compensation for his former team hiring Benedict. While the executive was let go by the Marlins last September, Williams blossomed this summer with a historic second half, capped by five laboring innings in his final start, a 3-0 loss to the Cubs on Thursday night at Wrigley Field.
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Trevor Williams wipes his face during the second inning Thursday. - AP[/caption]
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