DII Report ™️: DII baseball player-of-the-year profile, Jordan Williams, Tampa

Williams just stole another base as you read this... probably.

We are one week away from the 2025 DII baseball championship. That means it’s crunch time for some of DII’s best players. So we continue our look at potential player-of-the-year candidates. Before we get to Jordan Williams, make sure you get caught up on past profiles:

Adam Paniagua | Brevin McCool | Mikey Scott

Also, since we are talking DII baseball championship, before we dive into the players that will take center stage, take a look at the latest DII Report Field of 56 projections. Okay, now, let’s get to know Tampa’s artist of the stolen base (and so much more), Jordan Williams.

Jordan Williams by the numbers

Williams transferred to Tampa for 2025 and immediately made an impact. He currently leads DII in stolen bases but is by no means a one-tool player. His baseball bloodline runs deep: His father Reggie Williams was on the Anaheim/Los Angeles/California Angels (that’s one team with three different names for you youngsters), his brother Cam played for the Royals farm system and his brother Javier was also drafted.

Williams 2025 (through 5/4)

Vitals: 5-foot-11; 175 pounds; outfielder; switch hitter and right-handed thrower; speed makes him a valuable asset in the outfield with the ability to close gaps quickly.

Stats: .377 average * 5 home runs * 56 runs scored * 66 stolen bases (No. 1 in DII) *1.060 OPS

Jordan Williams in his own words

Wayne Cavadi: You're well-traveled in the college baseball world. You started at JUCO, you went to Florida State where you had a really nice season last year, and now you're at Tampa. Let's start with Tampa. What drew you to the Spartans?

Jordan Williams: Obviously, the winning tradition. I've been around Coach Urso just through being in Tampa. I knew Coach Urso was a great guy, and it was highly recommended by people around the baseball world.

WC: Going back to coming out of high school, you went to San Jacinto Community College and then you wound up at Florida State, like I said. Tell me a little bit about the recruiting process and how you landed in JUCO, and then tell me about the transfer to Florida State.

JW: I didn't really have anything going out of high school. Not a lot of buzz. Then my brother went to this junior college, San Jac. They were really good and have a good history. They were welcoming over there. I went over to San Jac and had a great time. We had a lot of success with the team — went to the [JUCO] World Series a couple of times. Luckily, I was able to have enough production to get a look from a couple of schools out of there.

Florida State was one, and coming back to Florida and having my family able to come see me a little bit more — that was a big part of it for me. The new coaching staff at Florida State welcomed me, and I ended up staying with that commitment. Ultimately, I got to go a little bit closer to home — Tampa is where I'm from.

WC: So, Florida State is Florida State, a legend in Coach [Mike] Martin. Here we are talking about the fact that there was not a lot of looks at you coming out of high school and here you are at Florida State, and now you're at Tampa, which is like the cream of the crop of DII. Did you maybe have a little chip on your shoulder? Is this success rewarding to you?

JW: Oh, I definitely have a little chip on my shoulder. But honestly, throughout the process of being a San Jac, that's not where my focus really is. My focus is going out there and having fun and really enjoying that time and the camaraderie that you build in junior college. That lesson carried with me to Florida State, and I really just value playing the game and the people I play it with.

WC: That's awesome. Obviously, speed is a big part of your game, and we'll get to that in a minute. But you're also a high on-base percentage guy, and this year you're walking more than you're striking out. I think that's something that a lot of people at the college level don't talk about. They like to see home runs and everything flashy. Let's talk about your approach at the plate because it's impressive.

JW: Yeah, Florida State, Coach Link [Jarret] really hammered that into us. He has certain standards for on-base, for slugging, for all these types of things. And he tells you this is what you need to do to be able to do that. And he talks a lot about approach.

My father [Reggie Williams, who has DII ties to USC-Aiken], he was a former Major League player, and he talks to me a lot about approach. So it's just been an approach-based mindset since as far as I can remember. Coach Urso really allows that freedom for you to create whatever your own approach is. It's not really cookie-cutter. I just go up there and I know that with my speed, that people don't really want to walk me. I'm able to be a little bit more selective than people without my speed because I know that eventually, I'm going to get a good pitch because no one wants to just go up there and pitch around me or anything and potentially give up the walk.

WC: Yeah, a walk is pretty much a double from what I've seen. You also got to play a little bit this summer in two of the bigger leagues, the Cape Cod League and the MLB Draft League. What were you able to learn and take away from those experiences?

JW: It was a lot of fun. I got a lot from the Draft League, obviously. I had Jacque Jones as my coach over there. He was helping me out a lot with just the little things, the little nuances of the game. We talked a lot about bunting. We worked a lot on that. But his insights really, I think, helped me turn a corner there. Then going to the Cape, it was just an experience that you don't forget. You always think about going to the Cape and you think about playing at those fields where so much talent has come through and all those things. So it was a lot of fun to experience that.

WC: And it's something a lot of DII guys don't get to experience, so it's cool you have that under your belt. Okay, so let's talk about the speed. Like you said, it makes it easy to see pitches because people don't want to walk you. But I feel like you can toy with opposing pitchers once you're on base and make things even better for other hitters in your lineup. How do you use your speed to your advantage?

JW: Definitely. If I don't have the green light to steal, I'm still trying to make them think I am, get the hitters behind me some fastballs, especially if it's a pitcher who maybe doesn't do as many fastballs or maybe trying to pitch backward. I'm trying to give my two-hole hitter or my three-hole hitter some good pitches to hit. So that's my only thought when I'm not stealing: Just to get some good pitches, maybe look like I am. I even probably look like I'm stealing a little bit more than when I'm actually stealing.

WC: Is there a moment where Jordan Williams does not have a green light on with 60 stolen bases?

JW: The majority of the time I do. If there's a situation where we like the matchup at the plate, [Urso] trusts my instincts, my savvy, to know the situation. And he says, in a way, ‘Hey, I'm going to let you do this, but you're going to be smart for me, for the team.’ I really take a lot of pride in that. If I feel like whoever's behind me has a good shot at doing some damage, I'm just going to try to get more fastballs to him. Maybe I'll stick around over there.

WC: As you mentioned, your father, Reggie, played in the bigs. But as a big-league player that you watch and model your game after, who has been those players throughout the years? Also, in addition to that, having your dad give you those tips and those pointers on how to succeed, how has that been beneficial to your career?

JW: We watch baseball games basically every night. We don't have movie nights. We have baseball night. There are so many players. But recently, when you're trying to make the turn to take your game to the next level with your speed, you obviously watch some of the faster guys in the league, see what they're doing, see what you think they're doing wrong and right. So recently, Corbin Carroll, even Chandler Simpson, you can watch him in the minor leagues. He's this special guy to watch. And then I really love to watch Kyle Tucker. I love his swing. I love everything about it. Jose Ramirez, I think, is also a great player to watch. He's a switch hitter. He's just so consistent from both sides.

My dad, and not only my dad, but the friends that he has, the people that he's close with, they just give me so many insights that I probably still don't realize how much insight that I have that other people don’t. Gary Sheffield is somebody I see very often. He's close friends with my dad. I just see him so often, and he drops a lot of knowledge on me. My father has a lot of knowledge and any time, he's always just one phone call away. Or at the end of the day, I'm coming home after the game so we can talk about it. We talk about little things, our approach from game to game, from pitch to pitch. It's probably the biggest tool that I have, the biggest resource that I have by far.

WC: What's next for you? I mean, are there those pro dreams? Is that where you hope to be next year?

WC: Absolutely. I'm just staying where my feet are right now. But obviously, I have my father playing professionally. I have brothers who play professionally. Those pro dreams are there, 100 %. And I just like to go out there and play baseball. Coach Urso has been so gracious to trust me and give me so much freedom in the way that I play and my aggressiveness. So for him, for the University of Tampa, for the team, I'm going to help win a championship.