Mental health coach paying off for Williams
After making the Opening Day roster as a middle infielder only to endure a season best described as difficult, Alika Williams wanted to address the doubts that drifted through his mind.
After making the Opening Day roster as a middle infielder only to endure a season best described as difficult, Alika Williams wanted to address the doubts that drifted through his mind.
Williams noted that baseball players are typically active for only about 18 minutes of a three-hour game, and he was drowning in his doubts during the downtime between play.
So the Pittsburgh Pirates middle infielder sought the services of a mental strength coach to help quiet the negative voice in his head.
“The rest of it is you and your thoughts,” Williams said. “I figured I might as well get better at that. It’s the majority of every game you play.”
A 2020 first-round pick by the Tampa Bay Rays, Williams was acquired in a trade for reliever Robert Stephenson in June 2023 and started 44 games at shortstop and 15 at second base for the Pirates over the past two seasons. Defensively, Williams was their most reliable shortstop. Offensively, however, he batted .207 with four doubles, two triples and five RBIs in 36 games last season and .202 in 83 career games.
Williams was demoted to Triple-A Indianapolis at the end of May, when he was struggling in his role as a bench player. He bounced back and forth between the minors and the majors the rest of the summer.
“Not playing every day, if you have a bad stretch, it’s not like where in the minors if you’re playing every day you get four at-bats every day,” Williams said. “When you play once a week and have a bad game and have to wait another week to play, those bad thoughts can creep in for a while. I made it a big emphasis of the offseason. I spent a lot of time working on that — and it really changed my life, in all aspects, from my personal life and my relationships.”
The power of positivity was tested almost immediately when the Pirates designated Williams for assignment in early February upon signing left-handed reliever Tim Mayz to a one-year contract. A former first-round pick, Williams was devastated.
“I got to put it to use right away,” Williams said. “It was tough for a few hours. It kind of hit me. I was really bummed out because I felt like I had a really good offseason and I was excited to show people everything I worked on.”
Williams focused on improving his health. He stopped eating out and started cooking his own meals every day. He worked hard in the weight room, believing that strength training would increase his bat speed, which would improve his hitting.
When Williams cleared waivers, the Pirates outrighted him to Indianapolis and extended a non-roster invite to big league camp at spring training. He arrived at Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla., at 189 pounds — one pound lighter than last year — but noticeably leaner and feeling like the weight was better distributed.
“Nothing changes, when it’s all said and done,” Williams said. “I’m still competing. I feel like mentally I’m solid. It’s probably the best I’ve been mentally in my career.”
On Tuesday, Williams made the second round of cuts that included a pair of middle infielders on the 40-man roster in Tsung-Che Cheng and Liover Peguero and infielder/ outfielder Enmanuel Valdez.
On Wednesday — his 26th birthday — the Pirates signed Williams to a 2025 contract, along with all of their pre-arbitration eligible players like center fielder Oneil Cruz and pitchers Jared Jones and Paul Skenes.
After going 4 for 9 with an RBI double in his first four Grapefruit League games, Williams is 0 for 11 with five strikeouts in his past 10 games. But he’s learned to put his mental strength coaching to practice, exerting his energy on the positives instead of the negatives.
Williams reminds himself that he made the Opening Day roster last year, that he has nine doubles and two triples in 83 games in the majors. He’s still seeking his first MLB home run, but has confidence that comes with the time he spent exorcising his demons.
“It was actually awesome — it wasn’t awesome to get DFA’d, obviously — but it was cool to see the process: How can I use this as something positive, something I can learn from?” Williams said. “I know what I can do on the field. I know I can help this team still. … I feel really good mentally. I feel like nothing changes. I’m going to go out and compete, play my (rear end) off and see what happens.”
