Mac Williamson

{{Infobox baseball biography

| name = Mac Williamson

| image = Mac Williamson (48035075551) (cropped).jpg

| image_size = 250

| caption = Williamson with the Seattle Mariners in 2019

| team =

| number =

| position = Left Fielder

| bats = Right

| throws = Right

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1990|7|15}}

| birth_place = Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.

| debutleague = MLB

| debutdate = September 23

| debutyear = 2015

| debutteam = San Francisco Giants

| debut2league = KBO

| debut2date = July 27

| debut2year = 2019

| debut2team = Samsung Lions

| finalleague = MLB

| finaldate = July 14

| finalyear = 2019

| finalteam = Seattle Mariners

| final2league = KBO

| final2date = September 29

| final2year = 2019

| final2team = Samsung Lions

| statleague = MLB

| stat1label = Batting average

| stat1value = .203

| stat2label = Home runs

| stat2value = 17

| stat3label = Runs batted in

| stat3value = 50

| stat2league = KBO

| stat21label = Batting average

| stat21value = .273

| stat22label = Home runs

| stat22value = 4

| stat23label = Runs batted in

| stat23value = 15

| teams =

San Francisco Giants ({{mlby|2015}}–{{mlby|2019}})
Seattle Mariners ({{mlby|2019}})
Samsung Lions ({{by|2019}})

|show-medals=

|medaltemplates=

{{Medal|Country|{{bb|USA}}}}

}}

Johnathan Mackensey Williamson (born July 15, 1990) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in the Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants and Seattle Mariners, and in the KBO League for the Samsung Lions. Williamson played college baseball at Wake Forest University.

Career

Williamson attended Wake Forest-Rolesville High School in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He played for the school's baseball team as a pitcher, and was rated the best pitching prospect in the state of North Carolina.{{cite web|url=http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130713&content_id=53603656&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb |title=Prospect Mac Williamson could be power source for Giants |first=Bernie |last=Pleskoff |work=MLB.com |date=July 13, 2013 |access-date=January 14, 2014}} He chose to enroll at Wake Forest University to play college baseball for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. He redshirted as a freshman, and played for Wake Forest as an outfielder.{{cite web|title=Mac Williamson Bio|url=http://www.wakeforestsports.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/mac_williamson_375020.html|publisher=Wake Forest Demon Deacon Athletics|access-date=January 29, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180730092139/http://www.wakeforestsports.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/mac_williamson_375020.html|archive-date=July 30, 2018|url-status=dead}} The Boston Red Sox chose Williamson in the 46th round of the 2011 MLB Draft, but he decided to return to Wake Forest for his senior year.

=San Francisco Giants=

In the 2012 MLB draft, the San Francisco Giants selected Williamson in the third round, with the 115th overall selection.{{cite web |url=http://www.digtriad.com/sports/local/article/231170/13/Wakes-Mac-Williamson--Tim-Cooney-Picked-In-3rd-Round-of-MLB-Draft |title=Wake's Mac Williamson & Tim Cooney Picked In 3rd Round of MLB Draft |publisher=digtriad.com |date=June 5, 2012 |access-date=January 14, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116095913/http://www.digtriad.com/sports/local/article/231170/13/Wakes-Mac-Williamson--Tim-Cooney-Picked-In-3rd-Round-of-MLB-Draft |archive-date=January 16, 2014 }} He signed with the Giants, beginning his professional career in the Rookie-level Arizona League, hitting two home runs in 19 plate appearances. The Giants then promoted Williamson to the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes of the Class A-Short Season Northwest League, where he hit seven home runs in 125 plate appearances.

In 2013, the Giants assigned Williamson to the San Jose Giants of the Class A-Advanced California League.{{cite web|url=http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_23838521/local-sports-digest-san-jose-state-adds-two |title=Local sports digest: San Jose Giants' Mac Williamson cracks 20-homer plateau – San Jose Mercury News |work=San Jose Mercury News |date=March 12, 2013 |access-date=January 14, 2014}} He hit 25 home runs for San Jose.

In 2014, he was invited to his first spring training.{{cite press release |url=https://www.mlb.com/news/giants-announce-non-roster-invitees-to-2014-spring-training/c-66539030 |title=Giants announce non-roster invitees to 2014 Spring Training |date=January 13, 2014 |work=MLB.com}} Though the Giants wanted to assign Williamson to the Richmond Flying Squirrels of the Class AA Eastern League to start the 2014 season, an elbow injury led them to keep him in San Jose, where he could still play as a designated hitter. After beginning the season with a .318 batting average and three home runs, Williamson went on the disabled list with a torn ulnar collateral ligament of the elbow and had Tommy John surgery, ending his 2014 season.{{cite web|url=http://blog.sfgate.com/giants/2014/04/28/top-sf-giants-hitting-prospect-could-be-headed-for-tommy-john-surgery/|title=UPDATE: Top SF Giants hitting prospect Williamson to have Tommy John surgery|first=Henry |last=Schulman |date=April 28, 2014 |work=San Francisco Chronicle |access-date=June 10, 2015}} Williamson would go on to fully recover from the surgery without complication.

In 2015, he began the season with Richmond{{cite web|url=http://www.richmond.com/sports/article_fa77a7a4-444e-5109-8230-c1ada330b454.html|title=Squirrels' Williamson looking for bounce-back year|first=John |last=O'Conner |work=Richmond Times-Dispatch |date=April 7, 2015 |access-date=June 10, 2015}} and the Giants promoted him to the Sacramento River Cats of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League in June.{{cite web|url=http://www.sfgate.com/giants/article/Giants-Splash-Reliever-Affeldt-goes-on-disabled-6352252.php|title=Giants Splash: Updates on Pagan's injury, Hudson's rotation spot|first=Henry |last=Schulman |date=June 27, 2015 |work=San Francisco Chronicle |access-date=August 24, 2015}} The Giants promoted Williamson to MLB on September 16, 2015.{{cite web|url=http://www.sacbee.com/sports/mlb/san-francisco-giants/article35522757.html|title=Giants call up Williamson, Brown, put Panik (back) on 60-day DL|first=Matt|last=Kawahara|work=Sacramento Bee|date=September 16, 2015|access-date=September 21, 2015}} He made his MLB debut with the Giants on September 23. He made his first MLB start in right field on September 25, 2015, and got his first MLB hit off Sonny Gray of the Oakland Athletics.{{cite news |url=http://blogs.mercurynews.com/giants/2015/09/25/parker-williamson-provide-some-salve-to-another-demoralizing-one-run-loss/ |title=Parker, Williamson provide some salve to another demoralizing one-run loss, brink of elimination |first=Carl |last=Steward|date=September 25, 2015 |work=San Jose Mercury News |access-date=January 29, 2016}}

In 2016, Williamson began the season with Sacramento,{{cite press release |url=https://www.milb.com/news/gcs-170780782 |title=River Cats announce 2016 Opening Day roster |date=April 6, 2016 |publisher=Sacramento River Cats}} and received a promotion to the major leagues on April 15,{{cite news |url=http://www.montereyherald.com/sports/20160415/giants-notes-adrianza-to-dl-williamson-recalled-plus-updates-on-crawford-kontos-and-law |title=Giants notes: Adrianza to DL, Williamson recalled, plus updates on Crawford, Kontos and Law |date=April 15, 2016 |work=Monterey County Herald}} but was sent back to the minors a week later. On June 2, Williamson was called up after Hunter Pence suffered an injury.{{cite news|title=Hunter Pence put on 15-day DL after Wednesday exit|url=https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/15889660/giants-pence-leaves-game-right-hamstring-strain|website=ESPN.com|access-date=June 2, 2016}} On June 8, 2016, Williamson hit his first major league home run off David Price of the Boston Red Sox, a tie-breaking shot in the bottom of the eighth inning.{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/giants/article/Hunter-Strickland-comes-up-big-in-Giants-2-1-7972207.php |title=Mac Williamson's homer helps Giants end 3-game skid |first=Connor |last=Letourneau |date=June 9, 2016 |work=San Francisco Chronicle}}

During 2017 spring training, Williamson was in competition for the left field job, competing against other outfielders. He suffered a minor injury towards the end of spring training, which would cause him to miss opening day. Williamson was ping-ponged back and forth between the MLB and triple-A throughout the 2017 season and began to make large contributions to the team near the season's end, including a 3 for 3 performance with a monstrous home run against Clayton Kershaw on September 24, 2017.{{cite news |url=https://www.mlb.com/news/giants-mac-williamson-has-3-hits-vs-kershaw-c255975754 |title=Williamson impressive vs. Dodgers ace |date=September 24, 2017 |website=MLB.com}}

File:Williamson (32423366587) (cropped).jpg

On March 28, 2019, Williamson was designated for assignment, after failing to make the Opening Day roster. On April 4, 2019, Williamson cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A. On June 1, 2019, Williamson elected to become a free agent after clearing waivers a second time in 2019.

=Seattle Mariners=

On June 5, 2019, Williamson signed a minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners immediately selected his contract after the signing. In his first plate appearance with the Mariners, Williamson hit a 3-run home run. On July 16, he was designated for assignment and later outrighted to Triple-A. Williamson left the team on July 23, 2019, in order to pursue an opportunity in Korea.{{cite web|last=Pavlovic|first=Alex|title=Ex-Giants outfielder Mac Williamson agrees to contract in South Korea|url=http://www.csnbayarea.com/giants/instant-analysis-five-takeaway-mlb-worst-giants-loss|work=NBC Sports Bay Area|access-date=July 23, 2019}}

=Samsung Lions=

On July 25, 2019, Williamson officially signed a $275,000 deal with the Samsung Lions of the KBO League.{{cite web|url=https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20190725011900315|title=Samsung Lions sign ex-MLB outfielder Mac Williamson|publisher=English.yonhapnews.co.kr|date=July 25, 2019|access-date=July 25, 2019}} He became a free agent following the season.

=Washington Nationals=

On January 15, 2020, Williamson signed a minor league deal with the Washington Nationals.{{cite web|url=https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/01/nationals-sign-mac-williamson.html|title=Nationals, Mac Williamson Agree to Minor League Deal|last=Adams|first=Steve|work=mlbtraderumors.com|date=January 15, 2020|access-date=January 17, 2020}} He was released on May 29, 2020.{{cite web|url=https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/milb-releases-we-learned-about-today/|title=135 MiLB Releases We Learned About Today|last=Cooper|first=J.J.|work=Baseball America|date=June 1, 2020|access-date=June 1, 2020}}

Personal life

Williamson was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on July 15, 1990. He grew up in Wake Forest, North Carolina, with his three brothers, Renn, Cameron, and Christian.

In November 2020, Williamson filed a personal injury lawsuit against China Basin Ballpark Company LLC, which owns and operates Oracle Park, after tripping on the ballpark's on-field warm-up mound, hitting his head against a wall and suffering a concussion while trying to catch a fly ball hit in April 2018, which was hit by Bryce Harper. Williamson claimed that he was still suffering from symptoms including nausea and dizziness which effectively ended his career. The on-field mounds were removed the following season. {{Cite web|last=Rogers|first=Jesse|date=November 10, 2020|title=Ex-Giant Williamson suing park over concussion|url=https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/30292405/ex-san-francisco-giants-mac-williamson-suing-park-concussion|access-date=2020-11-11|website=ESPN.com|language=en}}