February 15, 2026

Cleveland Guardians right-handed pitcher Gavin Williams is coming off a productive 2025 campaign, where he finished the season throwing 167 2/3 innings (31 games started) with a 3.06 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP to go along with173 punchouts. It was the first time in his MLB career that he made more than 16 starts, having made 16 starts in both 2023 and 2024. While the numbers on the surface look solid, under the hood, he had a 4.30 xERA, 4.35 SIERA, and a 4.08 xFIP, showcasing potential signs of regression for the 2026 season. Williams struggles most with his control. He had a poor 11.8 percent walk rate (seventh percentile) in 2025 to go along with batters hitting .268 and slugging .498 against his fastball, compared to his curveball and sweeper, where batters hit .116 and .181, respectively. Williams features an above-average fastball that averages 96.5 mph (84th percentile), and his whiff rate is 27.7 percent (70th percentile), indicating that the stuff is there; it's just his command and location that struggle, as evidenced by his 95 Location+. All that said, Williams has elite strikeout upside and is projected to be the Guardians' No. 1 pitcher heading into the 2026 season. RotoBaller currently ranks him as the 39th pitcher off the board, while NFBC ADP has him going 149.0 overall. Fantasy managers looking for a high-upside arm in the middle part of their drafts will want to target Williams.--Nicho Roessler
Source: RotoBaller