If you weren't familiar with Gavin Williams before this season, you certainly are now.
The Guardians right-hander struck out 24 White Sox hitters in the ALDS, including a dozen in his series-clinching win in Game 5. This followed a breakout regular season, when Williams led the American League with 248 strikeouts and posted a 3.76 ERA across 32 starts in 184 1/3 innings.
Williams will toe the rubber in Game 3 of the ALCS in Cleveland and will look to continue his strikeout bonanza against a Rays offense that boasted the lowest strikeout rate in the regular season. Tampa Bay will be a much tougher lineup to tame -- in terms of strikeouts -- compared to a White Sox group that had one of the worst strikeout rates in baseball this season.
Nonetheless, Williams has already put himself on everyone's maps with a dominant season that could have multiple outings remaining. Here's a look at the exclusive company Williams could join in his coming outings and how he's produced this breakout season.
300 combined strikeouts in reach?
Between the regular season and postseason, Williams has accumulated 272 strikeouts, a staggering total that is tops in the Majors, even above Jacob Misiorowski’s 263 punchouts.
In the 2020s, only three pitchers have had more combined strikeouts between the regular season and postseason:
Spencer Strider, 296 in 2023
Gerrit Cole, 280 in 2022
Tarik Skubal, 277 in 2025
That’s really good company and Williams, of course, has time to climb that list. With a scheduled start in Game 3 and a potential second outing in the ALCS, it’s not inconceivable that Williams tacks on at least 15 more strikeouts in this round. And if the Guardians advance to the World Series, well, Williams could approach that magic number of 300 strikeouts in a season.
In the 21st century, there are only 11 instances of a pitcher recording 300 strikeouts in a season across the regular season and postseason, which has been done by seven pitchers:
Gerrit Cole, 2019
Justin Verlander, 2018-19
Max Scherzer, 2018
Chris Sale, 2017
Clayton Kershaw, 2015
Curt Schilling, 2001-02
Randy Johnson, 2000-02
Big-time stuff
How does Williams generate strikeouts at such a staggering rate? Williams’ arsenal is loud, with multiple high-90s fastballs and a pair of breaking balls that generate whiffs at an elite clip. It certainly helps that he’s 6-foot-6 and has 7.1 feet of extension (93rd percentile), which allows everything to play up even more.
His most utilized pitch is a sweeper that averaged 87.5 mph and produced 100 strikeouts in the regular season, with seven more in the postseason so far. Given the amped up nature of the postseason, Williams has thrown that pitch even harder in October and has produced multiple strikeouts on sweepers upwards of 90 mph.
Next is a four-seamer that averaged 97.6 mph and was responsible for 68 strikeouts in the regular season. This is the type of offering that Williams can simply blow past hitters with ease, whether it’s lefties or righties. His four-seamer is averaging 99.1 mph in the postseason, giving him even more dominance on the pitch.
Williams also relies on a sinker and a nasty low-80s knuckle curveball, with the latter pitch taking on more importance so far in October. In the ALDS against Chicago, Williams produced eight strikeouts on that curveball, his most on any individual pitch.
As MLB.com’s Jared Greenspan analyzed during Williams’ historic stretch earlier this season -- when the right-hander had 55 strikeouts and three walks in a five-start span in July and August -- Williams has simplified his mix to mainly rely on that four-seamer, sweeper and curveball.
At the same time, he shaved his walk rate from 11.8 percent in 2025 to 8.2 percent in ‘26, showing signs of a pitcher who has become more confident in his stuff.
“He knows who he is as a pitcher now and believes in that,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said after Williams’ latest gem. “I’ve just seen somebody gain more and more confidence in himself.”
Williams credited a very simple change that helped spark his breakout this year.
"[I] threw a lot more strikes," Williams said. "I didn't walk 83 people like I did last year."
In terms of that process, Williams had a pretty straightforward answer to throwing more strikes and getting in the zone more.
"Usually set the catcher up down the middle and rip it. Hope that it goes in the vicinity I want it to," Williams said. "That just gives me a bigger area to miss. Rather than use the [inner or outer] third part of the plate to work with, I can use the full 17 inches of the plate."
These changes have helped spark one of baseball's biggest breakout seasons, and Williams will look to continue that on Thursday.
MLB.com's Guardians reporter Tim Stebbins contributed to this story.