St. Louis Cardinals’ 2016 Top Prospects: #29 Ronnie Williams

The next prospect in our St. Louis Cardinals’ prospects series is a pitcher who could project to be a valuable pitcher someday.

Welcome to the next installment of our Top Prospects series, where I am covering the top 30 prospects in the St. Louis Cardinals‘ system. Yesterday, we covered #30 Breyvic Valera, and today we will tackle our first of many pitchers in Ronnie Williams.

#29 Ronnie Williams SP

Season Stats:

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Scout Grade: Fastball: 65 | Curveball: 45 | Slider: 40 | Changeup: 45 | Control: 45 | Overall: 45

Analysis: Ronnie was drafted by the Cardinals in the 2014 MLB Amateur Draft and while he really only has one good pitch right now is a solid prospect that could be rated a bit higher. He will draw a lot of comparisons to Carlos Martinez based on his size and delivery, but he does not have the velocity or life on his pitches that Carlos boasts, so the comparisons stop there.

What Ronnie does have is a good presence on the mound.  While his frame is small it is projectable. In his chat about the top Appalachian League players, Hudson Belinsky mentioned that Williams’ fastball sits in the 88-91 MPH range and flashes higher at times.

Belinsky mentioned that his change up is “lively, with late life and bat-missing ability” and his curveball “has some length to it, and can be more of a roller than a breaker at times”.

Although, Belinsky mentioned that at times the curve can look like an above average pitch, which gives Williams his good fastball and two potentially above average pitches.

More from Redbird Rants

• Cardinals Rumors: 3 pros and cons of signing Carlos Rodon
• What’s next for the St. Louis Cardinals after Contreras signing?
• Report: Cardinals Emerge As Mystery Team for Carlos Rodon
• Cardinals: Trade targets after signing Willson Contreras
• Reflecting on the 2013 Cardinals’ top 30 prospects

This is good for Williams potential to break into the big leagues someday. While TCN’s Brian Walton may not be very high on Williams right now, there are others that are and I for one think there is potential with Williams.

Though, I think that with his fastball not having much life to it currently, I think that Williams will need to develop a bit more and may be limited to a bullpen role with the arms that are currently present in this system.

Roster Prediction: A Peoria – Though Williams struggled at times in his jump from the GCL to the Appalachian League, he still had a pretty good ERA of 3.70, which makes him ready for the Midwest League and his first full professional season.

Next: Cardinals' Top Prospects: #30 Breyvic Valera

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for #28 tomorrow.