Mets' Trevor Williams proving himself to be valuable asset

By all accounts, Trevor Williams probably has one of the toughest jobs in baseball: to be the swing-guy who is asked to long-relieve on any given day or be a spot starter with little to no notice.

But despite having his share of clunkers with the Mets this season — which can only be expected when your job description requires little advance warning and sometimes has no real rhyme or reason — he’s handled his jack-of-all-trades role with aplomb.

That was especially true on Thursday night when he diced up the Miami Marlins like sushi and pitched seven scoreless innings en route to a 10-0 win.

“He attacked the zone from the get-go,” said James McCann, who got a front row seat to Williams’ performance. “He mixed extremely well, threw offspeed pitches for strikes, went back and forth both sides of the plate and he was in control from pitch number one.”

What a difference four days can make.

Prior to Thursday’s two-hit, seven-strikeout night, Williams faced the Texas Rangers on July 2 and couldn’t get out of the fourth inning, surrendering five runs on five hits, including three home runs.

“It’s tough,” McCann said about the irregular nature of Williams’ role. “Not knowing if you’re starting or relieving, long relief. But something that’s so special about (Williams) is that any time his name is called, he’s giving us a quality outing. It’s not an easy role and he’s taken it on and doing extremely well with it.”

He sure did extremely well with it on Thursday night, lowering his season ERA to 3.76 in 52.2 innings pitched.

So well, that manager Buck Showalter said, “Trevor very quietly has delivered a lot for us in a lot of different roles.”

Perhaps after Thursday’s outing it’s not so quiet anymore.

But with the Mets’ pitching staff getting healthier with Chris Bassitt expected to return from the IL and pitch on Friday and Jacob deGrom pitching in his second rehab start for the St. Lucie Mets on his way back to the major league club, Williams might not get the chance to duplicate what he did on Thursday night.

Still, the right-hander has done enough to stay on the team and try to help the Mets win ballgames, that much is certain.

“Trevor will go into some role for us,” Showalter said. “We’ll see how everybody feels (Friday) before we make a concrete decision… But Trevor’s certainly presented himself as a positive for us in both roles.”

After all, even though his job may be the toughest in baseball, somebody’s got to do it. And right now, who better than Williams?

“I’m proud to be a New York Met in any capacity,” Williams said. “When I get the ball, it's the most important thing for me. Whether that's starting, relieving, or anywhere in between, I'm proud that I'm able to contribute for the guys in this clubhouse and for the fans.”