March 9, 2018
By Greg Ostendorf
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" Growing up, Steven Williams was a diehard Auburn fan. Whether it was baseball or football, he and his father would frequently make the two-hour drive from Albany, Georgia, to come watch the Tigers play. Their house was decked out in Auburn paraphernalia. Even the walls in his room were painted orange and blue.
So when the heralded freshman stepped to the plate for his first-ever collegiate at-bat in an Auburn uniform, it was a big deal.
Admittedly, Williams was a little nervous. He had been struggling during the intrasquad games leading up to the season, and he didn't know what to expect. He just planned to be aggressive.
The first pitch he saw was a fastball right down the middle, a pitch he says he probably should've swung at. But he took it for strike one. On the next pitch, the opposing pitcher hung a changeup, and Williams put a good swing on it. The ball jumped off his bat toward deep centerfield and flew over the wall, narrowly missing the scoreboard.
"I thought it was going to be just a deep flyout," Williams said. "Then I saw the wind taking it and I saw the (outfielder) running back to the track, and I was like, 'Oh crap, I better start running.' I saw it go over, and I was just like, 'Wow, that didn't just happen.'
"Just growing up a huge Auburn fan and thinking about that day, that's a dream come true. Just to hit a home run for Auburn, and for it to be my first at-bat, it's really special."
Unlike Williams, Auburn head coach Butch Thompson knew as soon as it left the bat off that it was gone. He'd heard that sound plenty of times during batting practice.
"Just watching him hit BP every day and watching him take swings, you just can't script anything that neat," Thompson said. "He got a pitch he could handle. We had the wind blowing that day pretty good, and to hit it out opposite field straight-away to start his career is pretty neat. It's storybook. There are a lot of at-bats after that for the rest of his career, but you can't script it any better than that to start your college career."
Williams hasn't slowed down since launching a three-run home run in his first collegiate at-bat. In the same game, he singled his next three at-bats and was 4 of 4 with three runs scored and seven RBIs in his Auburn debut. He'd finally record an out the next day, but through the team's first 12 games, he's hitting .375 with 18 hits, two home runs, 16 RBIs and 11 runs scored.
His 16 RBIs rank 30th in the country and second nationally among freshmen.
"I just wanted to help the team out in any way I could," Williams said. "Whether it was catching, playing right field or even just being on the bench, I just wanted to help out the team in any way I could. And so far, I think I've done a pretty job.
"But I can always get better, and I'm looking forward to doing that."
Thompson hasn't been surprised with the freshman's torrid start from the plate. After all, Williams was one of the better pure hitters at the high school level a year ago. But what has surprised Thompson has been how quickly Williams has developed as a catcher and how well he's played defensively both behind the plate and in right field.
"The word I'd use for him is efficient," Thompson said. "He's one of those guys that just has a good fluid rhythm for the game whether he's on defense, running the bases, at the plate. You just feel like his motor is running at about 60 percent. A lot of guys put in effort, but he just makes it look like it's a very top-level machine idling.
"In big moments of the game or in anything that he does, there's just an incredible efficiency with which he goes about it."
For Williams, it's now about maintaining this pace and consistency throughout the season. How will he respond if he has an off-game or an off-weekend? It's no different than this Auburn team who, at 13-0, is off to the third-best start in program history and best since 2001. How will the Tigers respond when they finally lose a game?
"We're going to lose one eventually," Williams said. "I just hope that whenever we do lose that one game, we don't lose anything. We just keep on playing the same way we're playing.
"It's baseball. It's going to happen. We just have to learn from our mistakes and get better with everything we do."
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @greg_ostendorf