Looking Back: The Glenn Williams Story

[Seth Stohs]

Glenn Williams signed with the Atlanta Braves in 1993 as arguably the best prospect to come out of Australia. He played 1,260 minor league games. In 2005, he played in (and got a hit in) 13 games for the Minnesota Twins. He remains very active in Australian Baseball to this day.

In the history of Major League Baseball, there have been 32 players from Australia. Twelve of those players have spent at least part of their career in the Minnesota Twins organization.

Williams looked to infielder Craig Shipley as his role model growing up. Shipley was really the first Australian to play in the big leagues in the modern era. He played for five teams over parts of 11 major-league seasons.

Williams said, “I was fortunate that my dad had a baseball store with Craig’s father and brother at the time. I grew up with Craig being my baseball hero. To know him and get to talk to him as an eight, ten, twelve year old was really cool.”

Williams was already becoming a star in Australian baseball in his own right. He was on an Australian national team traveling to a tournament in Mexico. They stopped in Los Angeles and went to a Dodgers game. It was the first MLB game he had seen in person. The Mets shortstop got hurt in the first inning. Shipley played the rest of the game.

“It was a dream come true, and to see an Aussie run out on the field and play shortstop. I remember it was almost like, ‘Hey, maybe I can do that as well.”

In the early ‘90s, players like Graeme Lloyd and David Nilsson were surfacing in the big leagues. There were more minor leaguers from Australia. And scouts were spending more time in Australia trying to find a new hotbed of talent.

When he was 13, Williams was a batboy with Sydney in the Australian Baseball League. He got to work out with the team. They had an affiliation with the Blue Jays, so occasionally their coaches would come to Australia.

Before he turned 16, Williams and his parents got on a plane and flew to the States to spend time talking to the various teams that had shown interest in him.

“They wanted to get a comfort level for their 16-year-old to sign a professional contract and go away to play. Will they feel comfortable with the way I was going to be treated? In hindsight, it was a showcase event in front of a bunch of decision-makers in major-league ballparks.

His tour included some time with the Twins. “I worked out at the Metrodome on the field. I took BP before a game. Tom Kelly threw me BP. Kirby Puckett’s out there. It was almost like, as a 16-year-old, I look back at it now, it was amazing. Didn’t realize it at the time, but what a great thing my mom and dad did.”

However, he signed soon after with the Atlanta Braves for a signing bonus of $925,000. He split the 1994 season between the Gulf Coast League and the Appalachian League, nearly four years younger than the average player. That became a theme. At 17 in 1995, he was playing in Low-A ball against players as much as seven years older than him.

He spent six years in the Braves organization, and he definitely struggled. He reached Double-A, and called the whole thing a big learning experience.

“First time lifting weights, coming to the States, being a kind of uber-prospect at the time. Let’s have him in the baserunning group, and the extra hitting group and the extra infield group. It was a large volume of work. Then the way to get players better and develop is to put them out there as much as possible. So mentally, physically and emotionally it was a really difficult transition to come from Australia and not only compete against players who were significantly older, had more experience but were also better than me. Mentally, the Braves got me a lot of money. My expectation was to get off the plane, hit .300 and hit 20 home runs a year.”

He continued, “I wish I would have concentrated on just getting better. I worked really, really hard, but it was more about me trying to improve and trying to prove myself. I think the way teams are handling younger players better now with work loads, easing them into it. At the time, it was just pretty rare to have a 16-year-old from a country where baseball isn’t their #1 sport.”

He joined the Blue Jays organization and played three years in Triple-A Syracuse (2002-2004). In 2004, he hit .264 with 23 doubles and 23 home runs. Still, no big-league call up.

“I really liked my time in Toronto, but I didn’t walk. So, analytically, JP Ricciardi didn’t like that. With the SABRmetrics, I wasn’t fitting what the organization was looking for.”

He was again a free agent. This time, he chose the Twins. The first day that they could, the Twins called Williams. “They gave me an opportunity to sign a minor league deal and come to spring training with them. I grabbed it with both hands. It worked out well.”

He noted, “Funny enough, when I went on my trip before I turned 16, I had 14 or 15 teams that had interest. The Twins were a team that showed the most interest. The Blue Jays showed a lot of interest, and the Braves had the most interest.”

In early June of 2005, Williams was in Rochester, playing well with the Red Wings. There were rumblings that the Twins were planning to make a couple of moves.

Williams recalled, “In the clubhouse, people figured that it was between me, Michael Ryan and Brent Abernathy. His girlfriend (now his wife) was visiting for a couple of weeks. Abernathy got called up, and so did Mike Ryan. They were good friends of mine, so I was pumped for them, but at the same time I was thinking ‘Well, that’s it!’”

His girlfriend was flying back to Australia. He was at the airport for a flight to Norfolk. He remembers having a conversation with his future wife and saying “This is it. If I don’t get a call up this year, I’m hanging it up.”

She got on a plane and flew back to Australia. Williams went to Norfolk. Three days later, Red Wings manager Rich Miller called him into the office. There was a day game the next day. Miller told him that he was going to give him the day game off to rest up. For some reason, he had to play in that game after all.

After that day game, Miller called Williams into the office and said, “I know I said you weren’t playing today, but I had to get you in there. You’re definitely not playing for us tomorrow. You’ll be playing in Phoenix.”

Williams looked at his manager… “Right. It didn’t click right away. What does that mean? Have I been traded? What’s happened?”

The Twins had some inter-league games coming up. They were dealing with some injuries and had a run of National League games. His manager told him that he could play several positions and was a switch-hitter who could get pinch hitting chances. And he reminded him that he had been playing really well and earned it.

His fiance (now wife) Laila had just arrived home. He called her first and gave her the news. She wasn’t able to get to Phoenix, but she surprised Glenn by showing up in Los Angeles for the three days before returning to Australia, again.

His second call was to his parents and his sister. His parents spent three days in Arizona. Three days in Los Angeles, and then went to Minnesota as well.

On June 7th in Phoenix, the Twins were down 5-2 going into the sixth inning. Torii Hunter, hitting fourth for the Twins that game, led off the innings with a double.

“Gardy said to me, if Radke’s spot comes up, you’re hitting for him. Get ready. Shawn Estes was pitching and there were two quick outs.”

However, Michael Cuddyer walked and Juan Castro singled Cuddyer to second. Radke’s spot came up, and Williams was called on to hit. “They had a pitcher’s meeting. I swung at the first pitch, and hit it hard. It was probably going to go up the middle, but it hit Estes’s hand and rolled to second base. Williams beat the throw to first base for a single to load the bases.”

For those curious, Estes was removed from the game. Mike Koplove came in and gave up a two-run, game-tying single to Shannon Stewart. The Twins went on to a 9-8 win.

Williams played in 13 games for the Twins between June 7th and June 28th. He had at least one hit in all 13 games. At that point, in 40 at bats, he was hitting .425/.452/.450 (.902) with a double and two walks.

Unfortunately, those were his career numbers between Williams got hurt. He dove into first base and his shoulder was hurt. He had shoulder surgery in 1999, so he knew immediately what was wrong.

“You hope it’s not bad, but you know right away that it’s not great. It was kind of awkward. The next pitch, Shannon Stewart hit a double down the left field line. I’m trying to run to third base and I couldn’t move my arm. I slid in awkwardly. I was down for a moment. I looked down and there were three or four sets of shoes, including Gardy’s. It must have looked really bad, the way I was running. That was it. I was out of the game.”

He continued. “It was really devastating at the time because I had worked so hard to get there. I’m really appreciative of every opportunity that I get. Just by circumstance and by performance, I had worked my way into the lineup, and I was trying to put my stamp on it, and really trying to establish myself. It was all taken away pretty quickly. It was pretty difficult to deal with.”

He came back and spent 2006 and 2007 with the Rochester Red Wings, but he didn’t get another shot in the big leagues. “I probably wasn’t the same player after the surgery.”

However, 15 years later, Williams is still so thankful for the opportunity he got for a month in the big leagues.

“It was really cool. For me, it’s almost like I could have played for another month or six weeks. Then they would have figured me out as big league pitchers do, and you go up and down and maybe I go up and down. It’s unique to be remembered for having a hit in every game I played in. The way that I view it is that I could have had it happen in Rochester on a Friday night two weeks before getting the chance to call up. I worked really really hard to get to the Major Leagues and enjoyed every minute of it. I was appreciative of Terry Ryan and Gardy calling me up, and then Gardy putting me in the lineup and giving me a chance and going with the hot hand like he likes to do. He was putting me out there, and I was really enjoying it. I was feeling like a part of it, feel like you belong a little bit. I was there. I competed.”

Asked about his fondest memory or a moment with the Twins that stands out, he paused for a moment. He said that playing third base behind prime Johan Santana was really special.

“He’s just carving up hitters like it’s Little League. The next thing, it’s a strikeout. The next thing, it’s a ground ball. It just felt like the tempo that he had; he’s pounding the strike zone. He’s keeping these guys off balance. Playing defense in Metrodome, there’s a big crowd, the Cy Young winner is on the mound, and he’s just carving guys up. Playing defense behind that was incredible. We’re throwing the ball around, and I’m the guy giving it back to him to pitch. He’s got a big smile on his face. That was just him. That’s Johan Santana out there, and he’s absolutely dealing and I’m part of this.”

When Australia didn’t qualify for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, he was ready to hang up the cleats and move forward.

His first job in baseball, post-playing career was as a coach at the MLB academy in Australia.

In 2009, he was offered a job as baseball manager in his home of South Wales. “I’m a jack of all trades, master of none.”

In the role, he says he looks after baseball programs from Little League up to working with players as they sign professional contracts. He’s looking out for state teams in national championships. He’s been a hitting coach for the national teams at times.

“It’s a really steep learning curve to be able to learn how to be an administrator and manage programs and budgets and those things. That was my foray into my second career in sports.”

He has been working to try to help fund several programs in Australia. He’s been developing partnerships with people in the US to help kids have the opportunities that he did and do it more efficiently.

In 2015, he got a job as the General Manager of Team Australia. He worked with the WBC team, the Premier 12 team, an Olympic team, and all the way to a 12-and-under national team. He works on operations and budgets, team and coach selections as well as performance planning. He’s essentially a Minor League Director but for all of baseball in Australia.

A lot of his time in the last couple of years has been focused on the Olympics, though that has been postponed to an unknown time. He continues to work on special projects.

He has also been a part-time scout for the Detroit Tigers for the past ten years.

“My playing career opened the door for a lot of opportunities. I do enjoy it. It has been challenging.”

He was part of the most recent Premier 12 tournament in Japan.

“The experience of being in the background at the Tokyo Dome when Team Australia, a bunch of guys who are former pros, and we love baseball. School teachers or they drive a forklift or they work in the mines or they’re fire fighters. And these guys go out and beat Team USA in the Premier 12. That’s the kind of stuff that makes it really exciting and really worth it.”

While you can see that he remains quite busy in the game of baseball, he still finds time to watch Major League games and highlights during the seasons.

While Williams is still just 43 years old, he has had a busy, full baseball life for him. From watching his dad play and playing on youth international teams, to signing with the Atlanta Braves and becoming a huge prospect. He experienced ups and downs throughout a long career. It was only a month, but he got to live his dream of playing in the big leagues, and he had a hit in every game he played in. And since retiring, he has become a coach, a general manager, and a leader in working with the current and next generation of ballplayers in Australia.

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[Monkeypaws]

Awesome write-up Seth. I remember Glenn well.

[Hawkeye12]

IIRC, the fun part of his hitting streak in every game he played was that it was multiple pinch hitting appearances, not just his debut.  That shrinks the odds of keeping it quite a bit.  But just him finally making it to the show was a great accomplishment in perseverence.  

[Jacksson]

GREAT STORY !!

Oh, what might have been....

[PopRiveter]

This was a really great read. Thanks Seth!