It’s 4:25 p.m., almost three hours before game time at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium, but Pittsburgh pitching coach “Spin” Williams is working under a hot sun. Williams is in the visitors’ bull pen beyond the right field fence watching pitcher Kip Wells throw about 60 pitches.

With a small, metal pitch counter in his right hand, Williams stands beside the pitching mound and leans his left hand against the bull pen’s high, corrugated rear wall.

After each throw, Williams speaks to the pitcher, often using his left arm to mimic Wells’ throwing motion.

“We’re trying to get him to throw the ball the same way each time instead of hoping it gets to the target,” the burly, six-foot, three-inch Williams, 47, says afterward in the Pirates’ locker room. “We did a lot of talking about his process of executing pitches. He’s seeing the big picture of the batter, the catcher, and the umpire instead of focusing on a smaller target and hitting the catcher’s glove.”

The bullpen session is one of many tasks performed daily by Williams, a former Winona State pitcher and first baseman, who has become one of only 30 major league pitching coaches although he played professionally for only three seasons in the minor leagues.

Williams’ day usually begins when he arrives at the locker room at 2 p.m. for a 7 p.m. game and he talks to the Pirates’ medical trainer about any physical problems among the 12-member pitching staff.

Then he talks to Pittsburgh Manager Lloyd McClendon about the pitchers and works with pitchers in the bull pen. “That’s your time to teach them,” he says. “During a game, you can only do fine tuning and help them get through the game.”

Following the bull pen workouts, Williams talks to relief pitchers while the team is stretching and makes sure all the pitchers do conditioning drills during batting practice.

When the game begins, he often sits with a pitcher in the dugout and uses the pitchers for Pittsburgh or the opposition to point out proper technique.

His methods seem to be working.

Last spring, Williams pointed out that veteran Jose Mesa, the anchor of the Pirates’ relief corps, was lifting his head and taking his eye off home plate during his wind up. Late in the season, Mesa was among the major league leaders in saves.

From spring training on, Williams stressed consistency in the pitching motion to Oliver Perez, helping the hard-throwing 23-year-old improve his control.

“I think he’s done a tremendous job with the entire staff,” says Manager McClendon.

Williams says his methods are based on developing a different approach to each pitcher.

“I try to individually mold myself to teach each guy to get the most out of himself,” he says. “You’ve got to find certain ways to get to people. I think that’s my strong suit. That and helping them understand how to be consistent with their pitching mechanics and execute pitches.”

He honed these techniques over 12 years as a minor league coach, including nine as a pitching coach, and seven years as the Pirates bull pen coach before becoming mentor to the Pirates pitchers’ five years ago.

Donald Ray Williams, Jr., who was given his nick name “Spin” by his brother and sister, launched his pro career began after spending two years at Muscatine Junior College in Iowa and the 1978 and ’79 seasons at Winona State. While on campus, he met his wife, the former Mindy Mitchell, and performed as a pitcher and all-conference first baseman. He was not drafted by a major league team out of college but signed with the Pirates during a try out camp in Toledo, Ohio.

During his second year of pro ball in 1980, his manager asked if he’d like to be a player/coach.

“I was a college senior and we had a lot of high school-age kids [recent graduates] on the team,” says Williams. “…I felt I was too old. All you heard was talk about young guys. Plus, I saw I did not have the ability a lot of these players had….I wasn’t pitching with any regularity. When they called me in to be a player-coach, I thought I was going to be released.”

Williams served as a player/coach that season and in 1981. In 1982 he became a full time minor league pitching coach for the Pirates.

“At that time the minor league teams had only a manager, trainer and roving coordinators, including a pitching coach who came in every six weeks,” Williams says. “They started to go to coaches at every level in the mid ‘80s. So I got in at the right time.

"Plus, I didn’t have anything else to do. I needed a job. Not having the experience of playing at a higher level, I think it was a good seasoning time for me as I worked my way up.”

Since beginning as a player and minor league coach, Williams has spent 26 years in the Pittsburgh organization. His tenure with the same team is rare in modern baseball.

“I’ve been lucky,” says Williams, “But I also think I put the organization first and a lot of people understand that. A couple of years I was coaching on a AAA team in the minor leagues and they sent me back to AA. One year I was in AA and they sent me back to A ball.

“It’s hard to take a step backward some time, but you have to bite the bullet. They said it was best for the organization, and it ended up being best for me. Adversity creates character and helps you grow. And that’s definitely adversity when you’ve done pretty good at AAA and get sent back to AA or from AA to A.”

After the long apprenticeship in the minor leagues and as bull pen coach, Williams has convinced Pittsburgh pitchers that he knows his job.

Pitchers don’t complain that he played only in the minor leagues. “Not that I know of,” he says. “I figure I have pretty good support and respect from the players. They know I’m in their corner….I don’t feel they look down on me because of that.

“Just being here and not ever having played at a high level is a dream come true,” he says. “I think it’s good for people to understand that if you have a dream, you should chase it. It might come true.”

Gary Libman, a former reporter for the Los Angeles Times and executive sports editor for the Minneapolis Tribune, teaches journalism and advises the student newspaper at Whittier College, Whittier, Calif. As a free-lance author, he publishes more than 40 articles a year for a variety of publications across the country.

Gear for US Troops in Iraq

Pittsburgh Pirates pitching coach Spin Williams recently led the way as Pirates players sent baseball equipment to U.S. troops in Iraq.

“I don’t know exact number,” says Williams, a former Winona State player, “but there were eight or 10 gloves and we sent several dozen baseballs and hats and I think six or eight bats.”

The process began when Williams and his wife, Mindy, received a request from their nephew asking for used equipment so the troops could play baseball in their spare time. The Williams’ nephew, Spc. Jared Weimer, is stationed in Iraq.

Williams gave the request to Pirates equipment man Roger Wilson, who placed a box for donations in the Pirates club house. Williams said several players contributed.

“It wasn’t a real large amount, but it got there,” Williams says. “I understand they had five-man teams in a round-robin tournament.”

Last Modified: Friday, November 04, 2005 15:13 by Rhone Richard