Gardendale junior third baseman Trey Williamon is leading the Rockets in doubles, homers and RBIs. He’s also unbeaten on the mound with a 4-0 mark this season.

By Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



Effort is required to succeed in any sport. However, controlled effort can often produce better results than all-out effort can. Just ask Gardendale High third baseman Trey Williamon. He credits much of his success at the plate this season to holding back a bit on the effort he gives at the plate.

“I was swinging way too hard last year,” he said. “I was swinging for the fence every time up. I was trying to hit home runs.”

Despite swinging for the fences with all his might, Williamon hit only two home runs last season. One as a member of the Gardendale junior varsity and one after being called up to the varsity squad.

This season, things have changed, as Williamon leads the Rockets with six home runs. The improved power numbers came after Williamon cut down on the force of his swing.

“I attended a hitting camp at Alabama over the summer and one of the coaches told me to take only half the swing I had been taking and if I did that, I’d start hitting more home runs,” Williamon said. “I was trying to pull everything. Now, I look to hit a fastball back up the middle. If they throw me a curve, with this swing, I can pull it. Looking to hit the fastball to center, puts me on the curveball.”

Williamon estimates he has hit four fastballs for home runs and two curves for homers. In addition, he’s had two ground-rule doubles on curveballs that landed just short of the fence before bouncing over.

“I can’t believe I’ve hit this many out,” he said. “I could see right away, the new swing would make me a better hitter, but I wasn’t expecting this. I was just hoping to contribute RBIs with my bat this year.”

Williamon isn’t just contributing with his bat this season, he’s also done his share to help the Rocket’s pitching staff. So far this year, he’s won all four of his decisions.

“I’m not very fast,” he said. “But I try to get the batters to roll it and let my infielders do the work.”

Williamon makes up for any lack of speed by throwing three pitches well. In fact their the only three he throws. His fastball, which he locates well, along with a curve, which at times his strikeout pitch and another pitch that’s rarely seen in high school—a knuckleball.

“I really don’t throw a change up, because my knuckleball is my change,” he said. “It’s my best pitch, but if you can’t control it, you can throw it over the backstop.”

Williamon was searching for better control of the pitch last season, when one of the Gardendale coaches suggested Williamon change the way he held the ball.

“I used to hold it with four knuckles, but now I just hold it with two,” he said. “I’ve got better control of it now. I can spot it much better with two knuckles than I ever could before.”

Last year, while on the junior varisty he proved he could be a key contributor on the mound, when he fired a no-hitter in a JV game.

“The thing I remember about the no-hitter, was there was one error in the game and that’s what kept it from being a perfect game,” he said. “That game gave me a lot of confidence I could be a good pitcher.”

Williamon’s personal success doesn’t excite as much as the future of the Rocket baseball program does.

“We’ve got a really good senior and junior class on this team,” he said. “We’ve got lots of talented players and we’re starting to get things going. I think this season and next could be the two best chances Gardendale baseball has had in a while to win a state championship.”