As Danny Russell reported, the Rays have traded for infielder Ben Williamson.
Williamson is known for his plus plus defense, but he’s struggled to translate his college and minor league hitting success to the majors. The Mariners promoted Williamson early in 2025, but sent him back to Triple A Tacoma to work on his hitting. He had a very good run in Tacoma, hitting .314 with a bit more pop. The Mariners included him on the Division Series roster, but he did not play.
Williamson attended the Mariners Fanfest in Seattle yesterday, and there he was interviewed by Kate Preusser of Lookout Landing, our sister site.
Among the most interesting things from the interview is hearing how a 25-year-old baseball hopeful manages the emotions of baseball’s ups and downs.
For Williamson, his 2025 promotion, coming just two years after he was drafted, was a big boost.
“I think that that was the biggest thing for me, is just kind of proving to myself that I belong here and I can at least compete right now.”
But if the promotion was a confidence boost, the July relegation to Triple A was harder to deal with. We see players sent down to the minors all the time and we probably don’t give it much thought, but imagine if your bosses gave you a major promotion and then a few month later said, “well, actually, we don’t think you are ready for this.” It would be devastating!
In Williamson’s words:
Yeah, when I got sent down, the first thing going through my head was like, I can’t be mad. Like, I’m going down here to work on stuff. And honestly, like, I think that was a big mistake, because part of me was really frustrated.
Clearly his first impulse was to, well, suck it up, go about the task of “working on stuff” and not admitting how much it stung.
So when stuff started not going well in triple A kind of snowballed a little bit. So I think going forward, like just being able to recognize when I’m frustrated and kind of let myself feel that, accept that it’s human to feel that, and just kind of build off of that and use it as motivation going forward.
In other words, he learned it’s a mistake to bury negative emotions, which only leads to digging a bigger hole.
Fortunately, he had support in getting to a better emotional place.
Talking to [my fiancee] helped out a lot, but … during that period, … I was a very closed book, and it took her, like, kind of like egging me on a little bit to kind of open up and kind of really explore that, that side of it. Because I was kind of confused at first while so frustrated. And I think that, like, once I figured out, okay, I was frustrated from this, but like, now I can finally move on from it, instead of kind of holding on to it.
You can imagine how hard it is to feel let down, disappointed in yourself and frustrated, and to be able to share that with someone.
Looking ahead, Williamson hopes to take some of that new-found equanimity into the 2026 season.
For me, not having expectations is kind of what’s going to let me be free. Because as soon as I start putting expectations on myself, I feel like I start putting pressure on myself, start getting in my head. Things start to speed up on me a little bit if I’m not performing to the level I want to perform at.
Although Williamson knows he has to improve his hitting to stay in the majors, on a daily basis it’s his outstanding glove that will keep him competitive.
I mean, …just knowing that the glove will help the team win, and the bats just kind of a plus, like, that’s the biggest thing for me. What I pride myself on, like, just being fundamentally sound and knowing that if a ground ball is hit to me, I’m gonna get an out, and that’s what I can bank on.
Williamson comes with a reputation for “coachability,” baseball for “he is willing to take advice and he’s proven he has a learning curve.” Kate Preusser spoke to those who have worked with him as his skills have developed, and perhaps my favorite quotation, From Pat McKenna, who coached him in college:
“He was doing okay,” says McKenna, “but it wasn’t like, oh man, this guy is going to be a dude.”
“But he ended up being a dude.”
For more on Williamson, take a look at the video Darby posted .
We are beyond grateful to Lookout Landing and Kate Preusser for generously sharing this interview so that Rays fans could get to know their new player.
